Home visit physiotherapy: pricing, travel and scheduling

A home visit is worth more to the patient than a clinic appointment, and it costs you more to deliver. The session is the same length, but there is a drive either side, parking, a front door that takes three minutes to open and a living room that has to become a treatment space. If your home visit fee was set by adding a little to your clinic fee, the drive may well be coming out of your margin. This post covers how to price home visits, how travel works with each funder, and how to schedule a day that holds together.

Two ways to price a home visit

There are two common models, and you can mix them:

• One visit fee that includes travel. Simple for patients, easy to quote on the phone, and predictable. The risk is that a patient 40 minutes away costs you far more than one around the corner, for the same fee. If you use this model, set a service area or distance bands, with a higher fee beyond a set radius.
• A session fee plus a separate travel line. Fairer when distances vary, and closer to how some funders pay. It needs a clear rate per kilometre or per minute of travel, and patients need to know it before the first visit.

Whichever model you choose, write it down, put it in your service agreement or terms, and quote it the same way every time. A patient who finds an unexpected travel charge on their first invoice is a patient who rings to complain.

Funder rules for travel

Who pays for the travel depends on who funds the visit. The details change, so treat this as the shape and confirm the current rules with each funder.

• NDIS. Therapy supports have their own provider travel items, and travel can be claimed within the NDIA's limits. Check the current NDIS pricing schedule and the NDIA's pricing and claiming guidance for the limits, what counts as travel, and the rules for the drive back from the last visit of the day.
• WorkCover and TAC. Each scheme has its own rules for home visits and travel, and some services need the insurer's approval first. Check the scheme's fee schedule, and get any approval before the first visit, not after.
• Support at Home. The Department's pricing guidance says travel costs must be built into Support at Home unit prices, not charged as a separate line. If you deliver for a registered provider, agree how your rate covers the drive before you start.
• Medicare, DVA and private health insurance. Each has its own rules and fee schedules, and some do not pay a separate travel line at all. Check MBS Online, DVA's fee schedules and each health fund, and build any unpaid travel into your fee or your geography.
• Private patients. Whatever your published terms say, and nothing more.

Scheduling by suburb, with buffers

The order of the day matters more than any single fee. A practitioner who zigzags across the patch can lose an hour of billable time to the steering wheel, while one whose patients are grouped by suburb can fit in another visit. The cost of that drive is laid out in travel time is the hidden cost in mobile practice.

1. Give each practitioner a service area, and book new patients with the practitioner who already covers that suburb.
2. Group patients by day and area. Tuesdays in the eastern suburbs, Thursdays in the south, and so on.
3. Add a buffer either side of each visit for parking, setting up and writing the note, instead of booking back to back.
4. Offer arrival windows, not exact times. “Between 9 and 9.30” is honest about traffic and stops the phone ringing at 9.05.
5. Hold a slot for urgent visits if your caseload includes patients recently home from hospital.

What older patients need from a home visit

Many home visit patients are older, and a few small habits make visits safer and smoother for them and their families:

• Confirm the visit the day before, by phone if the patient does not read text messages, and include a family member or carer if the patient wants that.
• Record access details on the file: key safe, gate code, parking, pets and stairs.
• Note the alerts that matter at the door, such as falls risk, hearing or vision loss, or cognitive impairment.
• Keep the same practitioner where you can. Continuity builds trust and makes changes easier to spot.
• Leave a written summary of the home program, in large print if needed, and share it with the carer.
• Have a plan for a patient who does not answer the door, including who to call.

How AspireOS supports home visits

AspireOS was built alongside a Melbourne mobile physiotherapy practice, and the Calendar is designed around the car. It works out kilometres and minutes from each day's route, ranks free slots by the extra drive they add, and adds setup buffers either side of a visit. Find a time ranks openings across the team by timing, continuity, driving and your own scheduling rules. Each person's service area sits on a map, and the calendar books against it.

Travel charges are added per funder from the day's drives. NDIS travel follows the NDIS limits, with the drive home added to the last visit of the day, so check those settings against the NDIA's current pricing and claiming rules. The visit sheet shows alerts, contacts and directions in one click, and the phone app lists the day's visits in order. There is more on our mobile allied health page, and our guide to starting a mobile physiotherapy business covers the setup side.

You can start free, set up your service areas, fees and travel rules, and see how a week of home visits lays out before you change a single price.