Fee schedule

DVA psychology fee schedule 2026-27

From 1 July 2026, DVA pays a registered psychologist $118.75 for a 20 to 50 minute consultation in rooms (item US11) and $167.65 for 50 or more minutes (US14). A clinical psychologist is paid more for the same work, $167.65 and $246.10. DVA does not fund couples counselling; Open Arms provides that separately on 1800 011 046.

Last checked 25 Sep 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this page.

Payer

DVA

Effective from

1 Jul 2026

Official schedule

Source document

All 25 psychology items

Claiming notes

• Two schedules, two fee levels: registered psychologists bill under the Psychologists schedule (US11 to US98), and clinical psychologists, who hold the AHPRA area of practice endorsement in clinical psychology, bill under the higher Clinical Psychologists schedule (US01 to US99) for the same categories of service.
• No gap: a Veteran Card holder is accepted at the DVA fee as full payment. You cannot charge a gap fee.
• Referral: a GP referral is needed, and for an initial treatment cycle a medical specialist, treating hospital doctor or hospital discharge planner can also refer. The cycle runs up to 12 sessions or one year, whichever ends first, then a new GP referral is needed. Multiple sessions with the same client in one week are not considered good practice without a prior financial authorisation request justifying it.
• DVA does not fund psychologists or clinical psychologists to provide couples counselling (relationship therapy) under this schedule. Open Arms provides couples counselling and relationship information separately, through the Open Arms website or 1800 011 046.
• Trauma focussed therapy (US52/US50) is only for extended exposure work, for example EMDR or prolonged exposure, when 50 or more minutes is not enough. Up to 8 sessions can be billed without prior approval; after that a case review (US17/US07) and a prior financial authorisation request are required.
• Group therapy (US18/US08) cannot be delivered by telehealth and is capped at 12 sessions a calendar year per client.
• Telehealth: the first consultation of each treatment cycle must be in person or by video, not phone. Subsequent consultations can only be by phone when video is unavailable.
• Shaded items need prior financial authorisation. Email health.approval@dva.gov.au or call 1800 550 457 (option 3, then option 1).
• How to claim: DVA Webclaim via HPOS through PRODA is free and pays within 2 business days. Claims must reach Services Australia within 2 years of the service, and your provider number cannot be shared.

Load these fees into your practice software

1. Load both schedules as separate billable items in Cliniko so reception can tell a registered psychologist's US11 apart from a clinical psychologist's US01, since the item codes overlap in number but not in fee.
2. Under Settings, then Data & docs, then Data imports, choose Billable items to bulk load the US-code list from a CSV instead of typing 24 items by hand for each schedule.
3. The CSV needs the headings Item code, Name, Price (ex. tax), Taxable and Item type. Name the items clearly, for example "DVA US11 Consultation 20-50min (Psychologist)" versus "DVA US01 Consultation 30-50min (Clinical Psych)", so staff pick the right one against the treating clinician's registration.
4. Set Taxable to your GST tax type only for the taxable items: US92, US90, US17, US07, US98 and US99. Leave the GST-free consultation, group and case conference items blank.
5. Update prices each cycle with Cliniko's bulk price tool: export billable items from Data exports, edit the Price column against the Item ID, then re-import with only the price field enabled. There is no undo, so keep the exported CSV as a backup.
6. DVA claiming in Cliniko needs the Tyro Health integration. Cliniko's help centre notes that a practice already using Tyro Health for Medicare bulk bills has DVA claiming as almost the same process. Store the client's DVA number on the patient file so it prefills the claim form.