FREE PHYSIO? Tell Me More!
Howdy guys,
Today I’m going to tell you how you can get FREE physio.
It is a great initiative by Department of Health/Medicare under the Chronic Disease Management (used to be Enhanced Primary Care) and it’s a taxpayer funded program.
It’s through this management plan that enables you to visit your physiotherapist for FREE!
That’s right – this taxpayer funded initiative will help you stay on top of your health – at no direct cost you!
So how does it work?
Well there are a couple of things you need to keep in mind and here’s the link to the actual Department of Health website so you can research further.
This is how you can organise yourself to visit the physio for FREE:
- Visit your Doctor and report the symptoms of pain you have been experiencing
- To qualify for the Chronic Disease Management Plan/Enhanced Primary Care plan (EPC) you must keep in mind that:
- It is a chronic injury > 6 months (or likely to be)
- Chronic injury can range from asthma, cancer, cardiovascular, diabetes, stroke and musculoskeletal conditions
- Organised by your local GP and practice Nurse
- You can qualify for a maximum of 5 x visits in one calendar year (Jan-Dec) then you can qualify for another 5 x visits in the following calendar year
3. Once you have the referral you can then make an appointment to see your ProPhysio+ physiotherapist for immediate treatment and management of your pain
It’s that simple.
I made a short video about this particular topic which summarises this for you. Check it out here.
Now, I want to emphasise chronic musculoskeletal conditions.
Let’s say you’re working in the office with your standard 40hr/week. You’re stuck at the desk and developing increasing neck pain and back tightness. On top of that you have things to do at home with your family and you ‘let yourself go’. Fast forward 5-10 years your neck pain has developed into a neck disc pain with arm pain.
Another example
Let’s say you’re a tradie pushing out long hours repetitively lifting, pushing, pulling and twisting and every night you feel pain and aching with poor sleep at night. For weeks and months you try and manage yourself and then over time (months and years down the track) you innocently bend to pick something up and then BANG extreme back pain with pins and needles down the legs.
Final example
You’ve been told that you have osteoarthritis and that there’s no cure. On your own research you’ve found that some supplements like fish oil and glucosamine can help and then you’re pretty much on your own.
These examples are what I commonly see in the clinic and there are many examples I can go through but with this great FREE initiative you can have any of these musculoskeletal issues screened and managed by your physio early so avoid it getting worse.
As they say “prevention is better then a cure!”
So next time you see your GP and you’ve been having that niggly shoulder issue or you’ve been having headaches with neck stiffness or aching in the knee or intermittent pain and swelling in the elbow or another other muscle and bone pain just mention the Chronic Disease Management plan and request a referral for physio and then we’ll do the rest to get you back to your usual self!
I hope you found that helpful and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
See you soon,
– Leki