DVA Allied Health Fees: Current 2026 Rates and Confirmed 2027 Increases

The short answer: yes, current DVA fee data is available

DVA's fee schedule hub was last updated on 14 August 2026. It links to profession-specific schedules effective 1 July 2026 for chiropractors, clinical psychologists, diabetes educators, dietitians, exercise physiologists, neuropsychologists, occupational therapists, mental health occupational therapists, orthotists, osteopaths, physiotherapists, podiatrists, psychologists, social workers, mental health social workers and speech pathologists, as well as dental and optical schedules.

DVA also publishes a software vendor workbook containing item numbers, provider groups, fees and item descriptions. DVA has separately told providers that the schedules on its website are the authoritative source for current applicable fees.

What does not yet exist publicly is a complete schedule effective 1 July 2027. DVA's August update identifies the professions receiving increases, but the official Budget information sheet supplies only four item examples. Any table claiming to show every 2027 DVA allied health rate today is therefore estimating unpublished figures.

Confirmed 2027 increases compared with today's DVA rates

The May 2026 Budget information sheet compared its four future examples with rates that applied before DVA's routine 1 July 2026 indexation. The current schedules have since lifted each baseline.

The following table preserves the original Budget baseline, adds the rate now in force and recalculates the remaining increase to July 2027.

How the final column is calculated: announced 2027 fee minus the current 2026 fee, multiplied by 100 completed and eligible services. It is a volume-neutral way to scale the change to your own caseload.

The distinction between the Budget baseline and today's rate is not just technical. If a physiotherapy practice models PH20 as rising from $75.10 to $110, it calculates a 46.5% increase. Against the $77.10 fee now in force, the remaining increase is 42.7%. For US14 psychology, the corresponding change is 55.1%, rather than the 59.1% implied by the May baseline.

Provider takeaway: use the July 2026 schedules for current billing and business planning. Use the four Budget examples only for the future items they expressly identify. Do not apply their percentage increases across the rest of a profession's schedule.

Current DVA allied health consultation rates at a glance

The table below is a cross-profession quick reference to common in-room consultation items. Rates are transcribed from DVA's provider-facing PDFs effective 1 July 2026 and were checked on 20 August 2026.

It is not a substitute for the complete schedule. The appropriate item depends on the profession, service, duration, location, mode of delivery, clinical circumstances and any prior-approval rule.

What this quick reference does not include

The full schedules contain hundreds of additional item rows. Depending on the profession, these can cover home or out-of-rooms services, public and private hospitals, residential aged care facilities, video and phone consultations, group treatment, trauma-focused therapy, case conferences, reports, travel, consumables, aids, appliances and services requiring prior financial authorisation.

Some fees are listed as FBN, meaning the fee is determined based on need or advised by DVA rather than expressed as a fixed dollar amount in the schedule. Shaded items in the PDFs generally require prior financial authorisation. Always read the relevant notes attached to the schedule rather than selecting an item by description alone.

A data quality note for practice managers and software vendors

Our cross-check found minor differences between several profession PDFs and DVA's August 2026 vendor workbook. For example, the chiropractor PDF lists CH01 and CH02 at $77.05 while the workbook records $77.10. The dietitian PDF lists DT01 at $107.50 while the workbook records $107.55.

This article uses the values displayed in the profession-specific provider PDFs. If your practice software differs by five cents, do not average the figures or silently change historical claims. Confirm the current applicable fee with DVA and document the version and effective date used. DVA's Health Provider Line is 1800 550 457.

Which allied health professions will receive the July 2027 increase?

DVA's August 2026 policy update says increases apply to:

• chiropractic;
• diabetes education;
• dietetics;
• exercise physiology;
• occupational therapy;
• orthotics;
• osteopathy;
• physiotherapy;
• podiatry;
• psychology;
• social work; and
• speech therapy.

The policy excludes dental, optical and hearing services, as well as medical and specialist services. Those services can have their own current schedules, but they are not part of this announced allied health fee investment.

The list of professions does not tell providers how every line item will move. It remains unknown whether all items within each included schedule receive the same percentage, whether some are repriced to common dollar amounts, or how specialised, report, travel, group and telehealth items will be treated.

What the confirmed increases are worth to an allied health practice

The cleanest practice-level calculation is:

Additional gross fee revenue = eligible service volume x (announced future fee - current fee)

For example, a physiotherapy clinic delivering 500 eligible PH20 services at unchanged volume would calculate 500 x ($110.00 - $77.10), or $16,450 in additional gross fees. A psychology practice delivering 500 eligible US14 services would calculate 500 x ($260.00 - $167.65), or $46,175.

Those figures are not forecasts of profit. They assume the same service mix and volume, correct eligibility, successful claims and no substitution between item numbers. They also exclude labour costs, non-billable clinical work, administration, cancellations, capacity constraints and any impact from DVA's new annual threshold.

The confirmed rates also show why practices should not apply a single percentage across their budget. The remaining increase is 13.3% for the podiatry example and 55.1% for the psychology example. The 2027 repricing appears targeted, not uniform.

Will the higher DVA rates make veteran care commercially viable?

For some providers, almost certainly. For others, not on fee percentage alone.

DVA says the investment is intended to improve veteran access and provider choice after feedback that current fees deter practices from participating. The four examples support that objective, particularly PH20, EP11 and US14. But commercial viability depends on the whole service model:

• the mix of item numbers the practice actually delivers;
• clinical time and non-billable time required per item;
• staff employment or contractor cost;
• room, travel and administrative costs;
• claim acceptance and payment timing;
• the inability to add a routine patient gap;
• capacity to accept additional DVA referrals; and
• the effect of the new $5,000 annual allied health threshold on higher-use patients.

The accompanying DVA allied health threshold guide explains the last point in detail. Higher fees improve revenue per accepted service, but they also move patients towards the shared annual review point faster.

A practice should therefore model DVA as its own payer segment. Comparing a DVA fee with a private price is useful, but not sufficient. Measure contribution after the actual clinical and administrative time required, then model how many additional patients the practice can safely accommodate.

How to verify a DVA rate before claiming

1. Start with DVA's fee schedule hub. Do not rely on a saved PDF, an old blog post or a rate copied from another clinic.
2. Match the treatment date to the schedule's effective date. The current Notes say payment is based on the profession's schedule and the date the service was provided.
3. Select the correct service setting and mode. Rooms, home, hospital, residential aged care and telehealth can use different items and conditions.
4. Check restrictions and prior approval. The schedules identify shaded items requiring prior financial authorisation and place limits on particular services.
5. Check GST status. The PDFs state whether an item is GST-free or taxable. Providers receiving DVA payments also need to follow the Recipient Created Tax Invoice arrangements described in the Notes.
6. Reconcile practice software against the provider PDF. Record the schedule version used and query DVA if the software vendor file, PDF or claiming response does not agree.
7. Do not add a routine gap. Under clause 131 of the current Notes for Allied Health Providers, accepting a Gold or White Veteran Card generally means accepting the DVA fee as full payment without additional charges, unless an exception applies.

What providers still need from DVA before July 2027

The headline investment is $169.7 million over five years, with $58.8 million a year ongoing. To turn that funding into an operational plan, providers still need:

• the complete schedule of item numbers and 2027 fees;
• confirmation of how home, out-of-rooms, hospital, RACF and telehealth items will change;
• clarity for clinical psychology, mental health occupational therapy, mental health social work and neuropsychology schedules;
• new rates or rules for group therapy, reports, case conferencing, travel, consumables and specialised treatment;
• confirmation of any FBN or prior-authorisation changes;
• updated profession Notes reflecting removal of the Treatment Cycle; and
• a publication date that gives practices and software vendors enough implementation time before 1 July 2027.

Until those details are public, the four confirmed examples are useful signals, not a complete revenue forecast.

The practical takeaway

There is real search and operational value in a reliable DVA rates resource because the official information is distributed across multiple PDFs, a vendor workbook and policy updates. But the page must distinguish between rates in force now and rates merely announced for the future.

As at 20 August 2026, practices can confidently use the 1 July 2026 profession schedules for current claims. They can model PH20, EP11, F012 and US14 against the announced 2027 examples. They cannot yet forecast every allied health item without making assumptions DVA has not confirmed.

Bookmark the official schedule, record the version used in your billing system and revisit the model when DVA publishes the full July 2027 file. The largest fee investment in two decades may materially change the economics of veteran care, but the item-level schedule will decide how much of that change reaches each profession and practice.