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Physiotherapists are pushing to have changes to legislation which will enable them to refer patients to medical specialists.
Current legislation and Medicare funding barriers means physiotherapists must refer patients to a General Practitioner so that patients qualify for a Medicare rebate.
鈥淭he extra doctor visit carries a Medicare cost, takes up the GP鈥檚 time and resources, and patients also carry the cost of gap payments. It also means patients must endure the additional inconvenience for having an extra visit,鈥� Australian Physiotherapy Association National President, Marcus Dripps said.
鈥淧hysiotherapists are highly qualified and experienced primary contact health professionals who are well respected by GPs and other health specialists as being an important part of the health system. GPs currently refer more patients to physiotherapists than any other single group.^[ii]
鈥淓xpanding the scope of practice for physiotherapists would significantly improve patient care, benefit the economy and healthcare system, while improve career pathways for our profession.鈥�
The Australian Health Review聽 published a paper on research that finds endorsing physiotherapists to refer directly to specialists will save up to $13 million per year.[i]
In addition to enabling referrals, the APA is also advocating for autonomous prescribing rights for physiotherapists for certain medicines. Both these objectives form part of the APA鈥檚 goal to expand the scope of practice for physiotherapists.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen from our counterparts in the UK that prescribing rights and referral rights can work and have improved patient outcomes and enabled better use of existing resources. To ensure we have the same standard of care in Australia, it鈥檚 important we expand the scope of practice for physios.鈥�
The APA is currently preparing a submission for the Physiotherapy Board of Australia to seek endorsement for autonomous prescribing聽which will be taken to the Australia Health Workforce Ministerial Council tfor consideration.
Queensland is leading the way already in this space with developing research on the effects of using physiotherapists with prescribing rights in a variety of clinical settings in the public health system.
The Australian Health Review article: 鈥楳edicare rebate for specialist medical practitioners from physiotherapy referrals: analysis of the potential impact on the Australian healthcare system鈥� was published by Dr Tracy聽Comans, Senior Research Fellow, School of Medicine, Griffith University and Dr Josh Byrnes, Research Fellow Health Economics,聽Centre for Applied Health Economics聽(CAHE), School of Medicine, Griffith University.
To find out more about the APA鈥檚 actions on referral rights, visit the APA鈥檚 and view the