Pilates Rebates
You may remember the government announcement late last year regarding a reform package for the Private Health Insurance sector.
Commencing April 2019, private health insurance will no longer cover natural therapies, including aromatherapy, Bowen therapy, Buteyko, Feldenkrais, herbalism, homeopathy, iridology, kinesiology, naturopathy, Pilates, reflexology, Rolfing, shiatsu, tai chi and yoga.
However the APA (the Australian Physiotherapy Association) have advised that members should not be unduly concerned about the removal of Pilates from the list of rebateable natural therapies. Any physiotherapist delivering a one-on-one or group consultation on any patient(s), whether it be classed as Pilates or something else, is unaffected by the PHI reform package. Their patients’ ability to claim for the service will be unaffected. The same will apply to accredited Exercise Physiologists.
The APA understands that physiotherapists who incorporate Pilates treatment into their overall management of patients do so with a full understanding and assessment of the patient’s condition, and with ongoing reassessments and modifications to the patient’s treatment as required.
Physiotherapist-instructed Pilates is one part of a wider range of treatment options utilised by our members in these instances, and is in line with the best practice, evidence based contemporary care that physiotherapists employ.
The reform package measures have been set with the understanding that there is a clear difference between physiotherapist-instructed Pilates programs and those used by other practitioners. As a result, physiotherapists utilising Pilates methods in their patient treatment plans will not be affected by these changes.
All of our staff here at Motion Health fall under the category of Accredited Physiotherapists and Exercise Physiologists.