The need for regular reviews is something that has become necessary since 2019 due to government reforms. However, it turns out that it aligns with our values and what we want to achieve with all of our clients.
We provide a $20 discount for everyone doing a review session to make it a little easier too!
Hopefully, this should give you a quick overview of the reasons, and there are more links at the bottom to other information. As always, if you have any further questions, be sure to speak with your physio or call us on 8356 1000 and we should be able to clarify anything for you.
Why do I have to take part in a review process?
The short answer is you don’t. We aren’t compelling anyone to do reviews if they don’t want to, for whatever reason.
However, it means that we know that you won’t get the best out of your time and money spent with us. You won’t get the results you COULD get.
It also means that you won’t be able to claim rebates with your Private Health Insurance.
What do the reviews consist of?
There are a few parts to it:
- working out if you are eligible to claim rebates from your private health insurance
- reviewing and resetting your goals with you at least 3 monthly
- checking and redoing your ‘outcome measures’ at least 3 monthly
- a 1:1 review session every 6 months at a minimum
It may be appropriate for you to have a 1:1 review more often than that, especially if you are starting out. This is just a minimum requirement
While these are requirements to allow you to claim with your private health insurer, this is just good practice to make sure that everyone participating gets the best out of their exercise programme, continues to progress and their exercise programme aligns with their goals.
Why can’t I claim rebates with my fund if I don’t do reviews?
This comes back to the Private Health Insurance reforms that became law in 2019, and that it is our responsibility to remain compliant with those changes.
Some of those changes were
- pure Pilates would no longer attract rebates
- groups that were called Pilates would no longer attract rebates
- exercise groups for reasons other than a medical condition / documented reason would not attract rebates.
It means that we have to assess people’s eligibility for claiming too.
If someone is doing groups for fitness, wellness, preventative reasons, toning etc we have to make it clear that they can’t claim rebates for those groups.
This seems really counterintuitive, because doing exercise for preventative reasons reduces the load on the health system, reduces costs etc, but that’s how it is!
What we have found since we have introduced the review process to claim
Overall, the feedback has been extremely positive.
It has been really interesting since we have been doing regular reviews. People have commented that having goals articulated and measured has been a great process. They have commented that it is great to freshen up programmes and get some new exercises that challenge them further.
It also means that people’s programmes are more closely aligned with what they want to do in life.
How it works
We have continued to work hard to make the system as easy as possible! This is our current process which hopefully will make it easy for all parties.
You’ll get a text message to remind you to book a review, with a one month window and the date by which to complete it.
We will remind you through the month if you haven’t booked a time.
If you haven’t done a review by the required date, we will give you a courtesy message to let you know that you won’t be able to claim until you have done a review.
Who does this apply to?
In terms of claiming with your PHI, it applies to everyone that is using the 560 code – Physio Group Treatment and PhysioStrong.
That said, we recommend regular reviews for everyone.
We expect that everyone is going to change. Your goals are going to change. Hopefully you will reach some goals and be looking for new goals. Some exercises may no longer be challenging and you need new challenges. Some people may have health problems that mean they need to adjust their programme and goals.
Links
Information from Australian Government regarding the change in coverage since 2019
Information from the Australian Physiotherapy Association about the reforms
Blog article called ‘Private Health Insurance – is it worth it?’ – this tackles the topic of value for money, individual insurers, government policy and preferred provider schemes. A worthwhile read.
