Ask a room of physiotherapists, psychologists, occupational therapists or dietitians how they set their fees and you will hear a lot of "I looked at what the clinic down the road charges". That is understandable, but it skips the most important question: what does it actually cost you to deliver a session, and what do you need to earn to make the practice sustainable?
We build websites for allied health practices and this topic comes up in almost every project, usually when we get to the fees page. Here is a practical framework for thinking it through. Please note: this is general information only, not financial, tax or legal advice. Speak with your accountant, professional association or a qualified adviser about your own circumstances.
Start with your real costs
Before you think about market rates, list everything it costs to run your practice over a year. Common items include:
- Rent or room hire, utilities and cleaning
- Professional indemnity and public liability insurance
- Registration, association membership and continuing professional development
- Practice management and booking software, telehealth tools and payment fees
- Equipment, consumables, assessment tools and resources
- Reception or admin support, whether employed or outsourced
- Marketing, including your website, hosting and directory listings
- Accounting, bookkeeping and banking fees
- Superannuation and an allowance for leave, since you are not paid when you are not consulting
Add your target income on top. Then estimate how many billable sessions you can realistically deliver in a year. Be honest here. Once you account for admin, notes, report writing, cancellations, holidays and CPD, many practitioners find their billable hours are well below a full working week.
Work out your break even rate
The basic calculation is simple:
(Annual costs + target income) / realistic billable sessions per year = minimum fee per session
For example, if your costs and target income come to $180,000 and you expect around 1,100 billable sessions a year, your minimum average fee is roughly $164 per session. These numbers are purely illustrative. Your figures will differ, but doing the exercise usually changes how you view the fee the clinic down the road charges.
Remember to factor in GST considerations and whether your services are GST free, which many health services are but not all. This is an area to confirm with your accountant.
Understand the market, cautiously
Once you know your floor, look at the market. Fees vary widely across Australia depending on profession, location, session length, experience and specialisation. As a very rough guide, standard private sessions for many allied health professions typically fall somewhere in the low hundreds of dollars, with initial consultations and longer appointments costing more. Psychology sessions often sit at the higher end, while shorter follow up physio or dietetics appointments may sit lower. Metro practices and specialists generally charge more than regional generalists, though that is not a rule.
Check your professional association, as many publish fee guidance or survey data for members. Also look at local competitors' websites, keeping in mind that their costs and business model may be very different from yours.
The Medicare and private health context
For many patients, the question is not "what is the fee" but "what will I be out of pocket". In general terms:
- Medicare provides rebates for some allied health services under specific arrangements, such as chronic condition management plans or mental health treatment plans, when eligibility criteria and referral requirements are met. Rebate amounts and session limits are set by the government and change from time to time.
- Private health insurance extras cover may pay a benefit for some services, depending on the fund, level of cover and annual limits.
- NDIS, DVA and workers compensation schemes have their own pricing arrangements and rules, which may cap what you can charge for those clients.
Rebates are not designed to cover the full cost of a session, so a gap is common. Whatever you charge, check current rules through official sources such as Services Australia, the NDIS and your professional body rather than relying on old information.
Structure your fees so they make sense
A clear fee structure is easier for patients to understand and easier for you to manage. Common approaches include:
- Separate fees for initial and standard consultations, reflecting extra assessment time
- Pricing by session length, such as 30, 45 and 60 minutes
- Different rates for telehealth, home visits or reports, where the cost to you genuinely differs
- Concession rates, if you choose to offer them, with clear eligibility
- A cancellation policy with reasonable notice periods and fees
Avoid creating so many variations that patients cannot work out what they will pay.
Show your fees clearly on your website
Hiding prices tends to create more phone calls, not more bookings. A good fees page should:
- List each appointment type with its length and fee.
- Explain in plain language which rebates may apply and what patients need, such as a referral or plan.
- State your payment methods, when payment is due and whether you offer on the spot claiming.
- Include your cancellation policy.
- Link straight to online booking.
- Show the date fees were last updated.
Clear, specific fee information also helps in search. People often search questions like "how much is a physio in Geelong" and both Google and AI tools look for pages that answer that directly. We explain why in what is AI citability. If you are weighing up a new site, our guide to how much a website costs in Australia is a useful starting point.
Review regularly and communicate changes
Costs rise every year, so set a regular review, often at the start of the financial year. When you increase fees, give existing clients reasonable notice, explain briefly why, and update your website, booking system and any printed material at the same time so nothing contradicts.
Again, this article is general information and not financial advice. Your accountant and professional association are the right people to confirm the numbers and obligations for your practice.
A website that makes fees easy to understand
We design practice websites with clear fee pages, rebate explanations and online booking built in. Take a look at our WordPress website design service or get in touch to talk about your practice.
