Physiotherapist guidelines

These guidelines should be read in conjunction with the information at Working with the TAC.

Who can provide physiotherapy services?

You can provide services if you are registered under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (e.g. AHPRA) to practice in the physiotherapy profession (other than as a student).

Who can provide Early Intervention Physiotherapy Framework services?

You can provide Early Intervention Physiotherapy Framework (EIPF) services if you are a physiotherapist who has:

  • Completed the required training.
  • Signed a declaration to provide services in line with the Clinical Framework.
  • Been approved by us to provide EIPF services.

The EIPF program is no longer taking new registrations. Current registered EIPF physiotherapists can continue to bill at the EIPF rates. Please contact us at sectors@tac.vic.gov.au if you have any questions about the EIPF program.

What we can pay for

Within the first 90 days of a client’s accident, we can help pay for physiotherapy without the need for you or the client to contact us for approval first. The treatment or service must be recommended by a health professional, related to the client’s accident injuries and delivered in line with the Clinical Framework.

If you intend to continue treating a TAC client beyond 90 days after their transport accident you must complete an Allied Health Treatment and Recovery Plan to request further approval. We will review our client’s treatment to ensure it’s reasonable, clinically justified, outcome focused and in line with the Clinical Framework. We will assess your request and let you and the client know our decision about what we can help pay for and for how long.

If our client has not received treatment in 6 months they will need to seek approval from us before we will pay for further treatment. Ask our client for a copy of their approval if you haven’t seen them in 6 months.

For details see What we can pay for and How to seek TAC approval.

Patient consultations

We can help pay for:

  • Physiotherapy consultations.
  • Group consultations involving two to six participants in the same treatment session.
  • Extended consultations, where the relevant criteria are met.
  • Meeting attendance, at the request of the TAC, where the TAC client is present.
  • Out of rooms consultations   – includes a travel fee for travel of less than 30 minutes.
  • Conduct workplace assessments and reports, where requested by us.

Travel

We can help pay for:

  • Travel to conduct treatment in the community, where this is clinically justified.

Travel time can be paid for travel to and from your practice address and your patient's residence. Where more than one patient is visited in a single travel period, total travel costs should be apportioned equally between patients.

Exercise programs

We can help pay for:

  • Supervised exercise programs.
  • Monitoring and evaluating gym/swim programs.

Equipment and orthoses

We can help pay for:

  • The assessment, recommendation and supply of external orthoses.
  • Provision of basic equipment. Our approval is required for specialised equipment.

Equipment should be reasonable, clinically justified, related to the transport accident injuries and in support of a specific recovery outcome. Please read our Equipment guidelines (medical and rehabilitation) and use the Assistive technology assessment and recommendations form to submit written requests.

Other things to note

As part of your patient’s treatment, you can:

  • Complete Certificates of Capacity to assess and certify your patient’s capacity for work.
  • Advise on the use of botulinum toxin (Botox/Dysport).
  • Refer patients to pain management programs and services.
  • Refer patients to gym/swim programs and exercise physiology services.

Concurrent treatments

Concurrent allied health treatments are not generally recommended to treat the same injury. This is line with the principles of the Clinical Framework. There can be some exceptions, such as group exercise.

If you or your patient believe concurrent allied health treatments are necessary, please contact us to discuss their needs.

Medical excess

For accidents that occurred prior to 14 February 2018 a medical excess may apply. Visit the medical excess page to see if it applies to your patient.  If the medical excess applies you will need to invoice the client directly.

Patients with a severe injury

If your patient has a severe injury, the discussion, referral and approval of services may form part of the independence planning process between the patient's treating team and our TAC coordinator.

If your patient already has an individualised funding package, physiotherapy services may be included as part of that.

How much we can pay

We can pay for services in line with our fee schedule:

If your fee is higher than our fee, you may choose to charge the client the difference in the form of a gap payment.

What we cannot pay for

We cannot pay for:

  • Services that are included as part of a hospital inpatient bed fee.
  • Pool charges, such as pool hire and entry included in the hydrotherapy fee, aqua aerobics and swimming attire.
  • Vitamins and supplements prescribed by an allied health provider. We can only pay for these when recommended by a medical practitioner and purchased at a pharmacy.

Also see general items we cannot pay for.

For more information

Access our policy for Allied health and physical therapies.