Can Our Physio's Directly Refer You For An X-ray Or Scan?
Written by Sarah Higgs
YES absolutely we can!
As trained and registered physiotherapists and health professionals in Australia we are first contact practitioners. Which means you don’t need to see a GP to get a referral to see us, you can just make your initial appointment with us and we can help you from there.
When will our physio's refer you on for a scan?
If you have a pain, injury or a 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 ultrasound’s or 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. However, we don’t jump to imagery straight away. As we now know in the literature that you can have no pain and have an abnormal result in a scan and vise versa. In saying this if our clients insist on completing a scan for their own piece of mind we support that choice as well.
Our physios can refer you directly to the radiology clinic – Queensland X- Ray. We complete this next step and refer you on if we deem it necessary upon our results on assessments. We directly refer clients for X-ray, CT, ultrasounds mostly. There are different indications and reasons why we choose one or another.
Which scans are covered under Medicare rebates?
Our physios can refer you directly to the radiology clinic – Queensland X- ray. We complete this next step and refer you on if we deem it necessary upon our results on assessments. We directly refer clients for X-ray, CT, ultrasounds mostly. There are different indications and reasons why we choose one or another.
X-Ray imaging
Medicare does 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 amount of X-rays a client can receive is limited in a year as well. This varies on types of X- rays requested.
Ultrasound imaging
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 like; Rotator cuff injury, injuries to tendons, muscles, bursitis etc.
- Certain suspected knee injuries that are covered include conditions like; nerve entrapment, collateral ligament injury, abnormal tendons, bursa or a cyst.
After you have had your scan
After your results form your referred scan come back, which normally takes 24 – 48 hours. You can make a follow up physio appointment with us and we will discuss your results in detail and ensure you understand what this means for you, your management and recovery moving forward.
Please feel free to contact our team about how we help you with your concerns, injuries & enquiries & give you piece of mind on how to move forward in the best way that’s the most convenient for you.
You can also have a browse of our list of services and see what best suits you