How Much Should You Charge? Session Rates for Allied Health in Australia (2026)

Q: Should I display my prices on my website?

Yes. Potential clients are already searching for session costs online. If your prices aren't on your site, they'll find someone else's. Being transparent about pricing builds trust and pre-qualifies enquiries.

Q: How do I handle patients who say I'm too expensive?

Don't drop your rate on the spot. Explain what's included in the session fee, outline eligible rebates, and if appropriate, suggest a shorter session format. Some practitioners offer limited reduced-rate slots for hardship cases.

Q: How often should I review my session rates?

At least once a year. Review in January, check CPI and your overheads, and implement changes before the end of the financial year. If your costs have increased and your rates haven't, you need to act.

The Australian Physiotherapy Association recommends a sustainable hourly rate of $261 for physiotherapy services (Nous Group report, September 2025), yet most allied health practitioners in private practice charge significantly less. This guide breaks down what practitioners actually charge across professions, how to calculate a rate that works for your practice, and when to raise your prices.

The short version

If you’re an allied health practitioner setting up in private practice, or you’ve been running one for a while and wondering whether your rates are right, you’re not alone. Most practitioners I talk to set their rates by looking at what the clinic down the road charges and matching it. It’s a natural starting point, but it skips a few important steps.

Here’s what you need to know:

The APA’s recommended sustainable rate is $261/hour (source)
Most physios actually charge $100-$200 per session, well below that benchmark
Your rate needs to cover overheads, leave, CPD, insurance, and still pay you a proper wage
If you haven’t raised your rates in the last 12 months, you’ve effectively taken a pay cut

I build tools and websites for allied health practitioners. I’m not a clinician, but I’ve spent enough time in this space to notice that pricing is one of those things that rarely gets taught in a health science degree. You spend years learning how to treat people, and then you’re expected to figure out the business side on your own. This guide is here to help with that.

What other practitioners actually charge (2026 benchmarks)

These are real ranges from practitioner pricing pages, Comcare schedules, and industry reports. They cover initial consultations and standard follow-ups in private practice settings across Australia.

Profession	Initial Consult	Follow-Up (30 min)	Follow-Up (60 min)
Physiotherapy	$135-$200	$100-$125	$150-$200
Psychology	$200-$300	N/A (typically 50-60 min)	$200-$280
Occupational Therapy	$150-$220	$100-$140	$160-$200
Speech Pathology	$150-$250	$100-$140	$170-$220
Osteopathy	$100-$160	$80-$110	$120-$160
Chiropractic	$80-$140	$50-$80	$90-$130

Rate ranges sourced from practitioner pricing pages and the Comcare treatment rates schedule, March 2026.

A few things jump out. Psychology charges the most per session, which makes sense given the session length and training requirements. Chiropractic tends to sit lowest, partly because shorter appointment times are more common. Physiotherapy sits in the middle but has the widest range, reflecting everything from bulk-billing clinics to specialist sports physios charging premium rates.

These numbers also skew metro. Regional practitioners typically charge 10-15% less due to lower overheads and different market expectations. That doesn’t mean regional practitioners should undercharge, though. Your training cost the same as someone in Sydney.

How to calculate your rate (not just pick a number)

Looking at what everyone else charges is a starting point, but your rate should be based on your own numbers. Here’s a simplified version of the maths.

Step 1: Work out your annual costs.

Add up everything your practice costs you per year. Here’s what a typical solo practitioner in a shared clinic might be looking at:

Clinic room rental: $15,000-$25,000/year (varies hugely by location)
Professional indemnity + public liability insurance: ~$500-$1,500/year (BizCover reports an average of $39/month for sole traders)
AHPRA registration: $400-$800/year depending on profession
CPD courses and conferences: $1,000-$3,000/year
Practice management software (Cliniko, Nookal, Power Diary): $500-$1,500/year
Accounting software and bookkeeping: $500-$2,000/year
Equipment and consumables: $500-$2,000/year
Professional association membership: $300-$800/year

For most solo practitioners, total overheads land somewhere between $20,000 and $40,000 per year. Your number will depend on your profession, location, and setup.

Step 2: Decide what you want to earn.

Before tax. Be honest with yourself. If you want to take home $100,000, you need to gross significantly more than that once you factor in super contributions (11.5%), income tax, and your overheads from Step 1.

Step 3: Work out your real billable hours.

This is the step that catches most people out. You don’t work 48 weeks at 40 hours. You work maybe 44 weeks (accounting for 4 weeks leave plus public holidays plus sick days), and of those hours, maybe 70-75% are billable. The rest is admin, notes, marketing, professional development, and the time between appointments that never gets filled.

A realistic billable capacity for a full-time solo practitioner is around 1,200-1,400 hours per year. Not the 1,920 you’d get from a simple 40 x 48 calculation.

Step 4: Do the maths.

(Target gross income + Annual overheads) / Billable hours = Minimum hourly rate

Example: ($150,000 + $45,000) / 1,300 hours = $150/hour

That’s your floor. Anything below it and you’re subsidising your clients with your own time.

I built a free session rate calculator that runs through this exact process. Plug in your numbers and it will show you where your rate needs to sit. It takes about two minutes.

The factors that should influence your price

Location

Metro practitioners can typically charge more due to higher demand and client willingness to pay. But metro overheads are also higher (rent, parking for clients, your own commute). Regional practitioners often have lower overheads but also a smaller client pool. The key metric isn’t what you charge per session but what you keep after costs.

Experience and specialisation

A new graduate and a practitioner with 15 years of experience and a clinical specialisation should not charge the same rate. Your expertise has a market value. If you’ve completed additional training (dry needling, vestibular rehab, hand therapy, paediatric specialisation), that’s a genuine reason to charge more. Clients pay for outcomes, and specialists deliver faster outcomes.

Session length and complexity

A 30-minute follow-up physio session is a different product from a 90-minute initial psychology assessment. Your rate per session should reflect the time, cognitive load, and documentation requirements. Some practitioners find it easier to think in hourly rates and then translate to session rates based on length.

Rebates and gap fees

This is where it gets complicated. Medicare, DVA, WorkCover, TAC, and NDIS all have their own fee schedules. The Medicare benefit for a standard allied health session (MBS item 10960, physio) is $61.80 based on a schedule fee of $72.65 (MBS Online, effective 1 July 2025). That means the gap for a $120 session is about $58. You need to decide whether you’re comfortable with that gap or whether you’ll adjust your rates for different funding sources.

NDIS has its own price guide that sets maximum rates. If a significant portion of your caseload is NDIS, your pricing flexibility is limited by that guide.

Protect your revenue: cancellations and no-shows

Setting the right rate means nothing if 15% of your appointments don’t show up. At $120 per session with 5 clients per day, one no-show costs you $600 per week, or roughly $26,000 per year. That’s not a minor inconvenience. That’s a salary.

The industry standard is a 24-hour cancellation policy with a fee for late cancellations. Most practices charge 50-100% of the session fee. The important part isn’t the amount, it’s having the policy clearly communicated upfront so clients know where they stand.

If you don’t have a written cancellation policy yet, this generator will create one for your practice in a few minutes. It covers the standard clauses and formats it so you can add it to your intake forms and website.

Managing your caseload capacity is the other half of this equation. If you’re consistently overbooked, you’re burning out. If you’re consistently under-booked, your effective hourly rate drops because your fixed costs don’t change.

When to raise your rates (and how)

Here’s a simple rule: if you haven’t raised your rates in the last 12 months, do it now. CPI in Australia has been running at 3-4% annually. If your rate hasn’t moved, you’re earning less in real terms than you were a year ago.

How to communicate a rate increase:

Give existing clients 4-6 weeks notice. A simple message works: “From [date], my standard session fee will increase from $X to $Y. This is my first increase in [timeframe] and reflects the rising costs of running the practice. I value our work together and I’m happy to discuss this if you have any questions.”

That’s it. No need to over-explain. You’re a qualified professional adjusting your fees. Most clients understand this completely, and in my experience, very few leave over a reasonable increase.

How often: Annually, at a minimum. Review in January each year and implement changes in February or March.

Not for you

This guide is for practitioners in private practice or mixed-billing settings where you have some control over your pricing. It’s not for you if:

You’re salaried in a hospital, community health centre, or government role. Your rates are set by the relevant award or enterprise agreement.
You’re exclusively NDIS-funded. The NDIS Price Guide sets maximum rates. Your pricing strategy is about efficiency and caseload management, not rate-setting.
You’re a student or new graduate in a supervised position. Your supervising practitioner sets the rates. Focus on getting your clinical hours done.

Frequently asked questions

Should I display my prices on my website?

Yes. I’d say roughly half the allied health websites I see hide their pricing, and I think that’s a mistake. Potential clients are already Googling “how much does physio cost.” If your prices aren’t on your site, they’ll find someone else’s. Being transparent about pricing builds trust and pre-qualifies enquiries so you spend less time on people who can’t afford your services.

How do I handle patients who say I’m too expensive?

First, don’t drop your rate on the spot. That devalues your service for everyone. Instead, explain what’s included in the session fee (assessment, treatment, notes, exercise programming), outline what rebates they may be eligible for, and if appropriate, suggest a shorter session format. Some practitioners offer a reduced-rate slot for hardship cases, but keep this to a small percentage of your caseload.

What’s the difference between a gap fee and a private fee?

Your private fee is what you charge. The gap fee is what the client pays out of pocket after their rebate (Medicare, private health insurance, DVA, etc.) is applied. So if your session fee is $120 and the Medicare benefit is $61.80, the gap is about $58. Clients care about the gap more than your headline rate, which is worth keeping in mind when you set your prices.

How often should I review my session rates?

At least once a year. I’d suggest January, so any changes can take effect before the end of the financial year. Check CPI, review your overheads (they always go up), and look at what peers in your area are charging. If your costs have increased and your rates haven’t, you need to act.