Treatment and approvals
Getting life back to normal after a work-related injury is important for our injured workers. As an allied health provider, you’re a key part of this process.
We approve and pay for treatment by registered and non-registered approved providers.
Information below outlines who can provide a service and what we‘ll cover.
Return to work focus
Our goal is to return injured workers to work as safely and quickly as possible.
Research shows that the longer an injured worker is off work, the chance of them returning decreases.
These tips will help you support an injured worker to stay at, or return to, work.
- Assess the worker's condition and chat with them about the importance of staying active and, if possible, staying at work.
- Set realistic treatment goals that focus on what can be done, not what can't.
- Provide relevant treatment and rehabilitation support.
- Identify any risks that might slow their recovery or return to work and talk to the rehabilitation and return to work team about these, if needed.
- Encourage, where appropriate, the worker to self-manage, including home exercises and management of their suitable duties.
- Openly communicate with the employer and WorkCover about the treatment approach and the return to work goals.
- Help with identification and sourcing of suitable duties.
Our return to work services panel also partners with us to provide return to work services such as:
- worksite assessments
- functional capacity evaluations
- vocational counselling
- transferable skills assessments
- vocational assessments
- job placement services assistance including finding alternative employment or short retraining courses
- development and management of suitable duties either with the employer
- facilitation of host placement with a host employer
- help with finding alternative employment or short retraining courses.
Information you give us
Information you provide helps us manage the worker's injury and rehabilitation program and get them back to work as quickly and safely as possible.
Some things we'd like to know include:
- initial assessment results
- treatment plan
- goals of treatment, including the return to work goal
- expected recovery time frames and pathway
- results of screening and outcome measures.
Approved registered providers include:
- medical practitioners
- dentists
- physiotherapists
- occupational therapists
- psychologists
- counsellors
- psychotherapists
- speech pathologists
- chiropractors
- osteopaths
- podiatrists
- Chinese medicine practitioners for acupuncture only.
Approved non-board registered providers:
- exercise physiologists
- rehabilitation counsellors
- social workers
- dieticians
- diversional therapists
- job placement providers
- vocational services providers.
Providers should refer to the relevant table of costs for accreditation and service standards.
While other providers can play a useful role in rehabilitation, we're unable to cover the cost of services provided by:
- massage therapists
- natural therapists
- pilates instructors
- personal trainers
- naturopaths
- homeopaths
- acupuncturists who are not Chinese medicine practitioners
- herbalists
- reflexologists
- myotherapists
- hypnotherapists
- dance or music therapists.
If a service isn't covered the injured worker will be responsible for any costs.
Acupuncture is an approved service where there's evidence of positive clinical and functional outcomes.
There are variations on the type of acupuncture that registered medical professionals and registered Chinese Medicine practitioners undertake in the normal scope of practice. Please refer to the Medical Benefits Schedule (MBS) or the Chinese Medicine Table of Costs for the different approved services for each provider type.
Other registered providers (e.g., physiotherapists) may provide services that utilise acupuncture and other needling techniques (e.g., dry needling, trigger point release). These are services which can be incorporated as part of a normal consultation and are not billable separately or specifically as acupuncture services.
Refer to the relevant Table of Costs for each provider type.
Acupuncture needles and accessories are consumables and are unable to be paid for by us.
We’ll cover massage as part of a normal treatment session by physiotherapists.
We support massage as part of a course of treatment, not a standalone treatment, where there's evidence of positive clinical and functional outcomes. There isn't a separate item code for massage. This is billed as a standard consultation.
Massage therapists, remedial massage therapists, and myotherapists are not registered providers in Queensland, so we’re unable to pay for services by these providers
Massage oil and creams are considered consumables and won’t be covered by us.
We support Pilates when provided by a registered service provider, e.g. physiotherapists and exercise physiologists.
The registered provider must be the person providing the services either in a one-on-one session or directly supervising a group with a maximum of 8 participants.
We don’t cover distant supervision, for example, in the next room.
We support the use of RTUI as a reliable and valid assessment and treatment by physiotherapists to evaluate muscle structure and form and to examine patterns of muscle activation.
RTUI may be used as part of an assessment and as an addition to ongoing physiotherapy treatment.
RTUI is covered under existing initial and subsequent consultation item numbers within the Physiotherapy Services Table of Costs.