Can our Physiotherapists directly refer you for X-ray, scans or imaging?
Yes, absolutely we can!
As registered physiotherapists in Australia we are first contact practitioners. Which means you don’t need to see a GP to get a referral to see us. If you have a pain, injury or concern, as physio’s we are able to assess, diagnose, treat any injury and make a clinical decision if we need to send you for further investigations such as X-rays and CT’s etc.
A lot of the time as physiotherapists, we are able to fully diagnose an injury without any need for any investigations or scans. We like to refer for scans to rule out any suspected fractures or if surgery might be considered an option or to exclude any sinister underlying pathologies that we might think could be responsible for your symptoms.
Which scans are covered under Medicare rebates?
Our physiotherapists can refer you directly to the radiology clinic – Queensland X- ray. We complete the referral if we deem it necessary based on the results of our assessments. Our direct referrals are mostly for X-ray, CT and Ultrasound investigations. Each type of scan has different indications and there are several reasons as to why we would choose one type over the other.
X-rays:
Medicare will rebate most X- rays referred by a physiotherapist. These include specific areas as follows:
- Hip Joint
- Pelvic girdle
- Cervical spine
- Thoracic spine
- Lumbosacral spine
- Sacrococcygeal region
We can also request multiple regions to be investigated. Any other areas of the body requested for X-ray are NON-Medicare eligible. The number of X-rays a client can receive is limited in a year as well. * Varies on types of X- rays requested.
Ultrasound:
Medicare rebates most ultrasound scans referred directly by a physiotherapist. The areas of the body are the shoulder region and the knee. Although, there are certain requirements that the scan has to be for suspected specific injuries to get the full Medicare rebate.
Certain suspected shoulder injuries that are covered include conditions such as; Rotator cuff injury, injuries to tendons or muscles, and bursitis.
Certain suspected knee injuries that are covered include conditions like; (such as;) nerve entrapment, collateral ligament injury, abnormal tendons, bursa or a cyst.
If you have any concerns about an injury or would like something checked out, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re here to help.