Fee schedule
ReturnToWorkSA occupational therapy fees 2026-27
From 1 July 2026 ReturnToWorkSA pays occupational therapists $238.20 per hour for both initial and subsequent consultations (OT105, OT205), exclusive of GST, under its gazetted fee schedule. Unlike physiotherapy's flat consultation fees, almost every occupational therapy item on this schedule is billed per hour, including driver assessment and rehabilitation.
Last checked 25 Sep 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this page.
- Payer
- ReturnToWorkSA
- Effective from
- 1 Jul 2026
- Official schedule
- Source document
What changed this year
- This is the fee schedule effective 1 July 2026, gazetted in the South Australian Government Gazette. ReturnToWorkSA republishes the OT schedule as a dated PDF with a matching XLSX data file each cycle.
- Almost every item on the occupational therapy table, including both consultation types, is billed per hour at the same $238.20 rate. Physiotherapy's equivalent schedule uses flat per-visit fees for standard consultations; occupational therapy does not, so a shorter OT session is not automatically a cheaper one under this structure unless your invoice reflects actual time.
- Driver assessment and rehabilitation (OTDVA, OTDVR) sit on this schedule at the standard hourly rate, capped at 5 hours for the assessment and report but with no stated cap on rehabilitation hours.
All 18 occupational therapy items
| Item | Description | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| OT105 | Initial consultation. History, assessment, planning, education and treatment per the Clinical Framework. Per hour | $238.20 |
| OT205 | Subsequent consultation. Re-assessment, planning, education and treatment. Per hour | $238.20 |
| OTMP | Occupational therapy management plan, can be submitted every 10 treatments or on request | $59.70 |
| OT216 | Workplace visit, reviewing worker and workplace demands. Per hour, max 1 hour | $238.20 |
| OT300 | Fabrication, fitting or adjustment of a splint. Per hour | $238.20 |
| OT390 | Materials used to construct or modify a splint | Reasonable cost |
| OT780 | Independent clinical assessment and report, by an OT other than the treating one. Per hour, max 4 hours | $238.20 |
| OT760 | Activities of daily living assessment and report. Per hour, max 5 hours | $238.20 |
| OT762 | Activities of daily living implementation and review. Per hour, max 2 hours | $238.20 |
| OTDVA | Driver assessment and report, on the injury's impact on safe independent driving. Per hour, max 5 hours | $238.20 |
| OTDVR | Driver rehabilitation and report, implementing a driver rehabilitation plan. Per hour | $238.20 |
| OT552 | Telephone calls with the claims manager, employer, worker's representative or referring practitioner | $33.10 |
| OT820 | Treating occupational therapy report, on the worker's status and treatment | $238.20 |
| OT870 | Case conference, at the claims manager's or employer's request. Per hour | $238.20 |
| OT905 | Travel time for a case conference, home, hospital or worksite visit, or assessment. Per hour | $202.20 |
| OT907 | Travel expenses, only where the destination is more than 100km from the provider's principal place of business | Reasonable cost |
| OTTE0 | Telehealth initial consultation. Per hour, max 1 hour | $238.20 |
| OTTE2 | Telehealth subsequent consultation. Per hour | $238.20 |
One hourly rate covers most of the schedule
ReturnToWorkSA's occupational therapy fee schedule, effective 1 July 2026, is built around a single hourly rate of $238.20 that applies to the initial consultation (OT105), the subsequent consultation (OT205), workplace visits, splint work, independent assessments, activities of daily living work, driver assessment and rehabilitation, case conferences and telehealth consultations. That is a different structure to physiotherapy's flat per-visit consultation fees on ReturnToWorkSA's own physiotherapy schedule, where an initial consultation is a $119.20 flat fee rather than an hourly rate.
The practical consequence is that invoicing accuracy on time spent matters more for occupational therapy than for physiotherapy under this scheme. A 40 minute subsequent consultation and a 55 minute one are both nominally OT205, but should be invoiced for the time actually spent against the hourly rate, not as a flat fee regardless of duration.
Driver assessment and rehabilitation sit inside the standard schedule
Two items are specific to occupational therapy on this table and do not appear on ReturnToWorkSA's physiotherapy or psychology schedules: driver assessment and report (OTDVA), evaluating the impact of an injury on safe independent driving and capped at 5 hours, and driver rehabilitation and report (OTDVR), implementing a rehabilitation plan with no stated hour cap. Both must be requested in writing by the claims manager, self-insured employer or treating medical practitioner, and both bill at the standard $238.20 hourly rate.
Activities of daily living assessment and re-assessment (OT760, OT762) work the same way as on the physiotherapy schedule: a written request is required, and where a medical expert recommends the service, the claims manager or self-insured employer must approve it before the OT proceeds.
GST and invoicing timeframes
As with every ReturnToWorkSA allied health schedule, fees are exclusive of GST and the insurer adds GST on top where it applies, rather than treating occupational therapy as GST free. That differs from SIRA NSW, where physiotherapy-aligned professions are GST free for treatment.
Invoices are due within four weeks of the service, and ReturnToWorkSA generally will not pay invoices received more than six months after the service date without exceptional circumstances. To bill at all, the occupational therapist needs both AHPRA registration and ReturnToWorkSA registration, the latter granted automatically on the first invoice submitted.
Claiming notes
- All amounts in this schedule are exclusive of GST. Where GST applies, the insurer pays the GST-exclusive fee plus the GST amount on top, so occupational therapy treatment under ReturnToWorkSA is not GST free.
- To bill ReturnToWorkSA, an occupational therapist must be registered as an occupational therapist with AHPRA and registered by ReturnToWorkSA, which registers a provider automatically on receipt of their first invoice.
- Invoices must be submitted within four weeks of the service. Invoices received more than six months after the date of service may not be paid unless exceptional circumstances apply.
- Driver assessment and rehabilitation must be requested in writing by the claims manager, self-insured employer or treating medical practitioner; an occupational therapist cannot self-initiate and bill these items.
- Activities of daily living assessment and report (OT760) must also be requested in writing, and where a medical expert recommends it, prior approval from the claims manager or self-insured employer is still required before the OT proceeds.
- Travel expenses (OT907) only apply where the provider travels more than 100km from their principal place of business or residential address; car hire is only payable where the provider travelled by aircraft to deliver the service.
- As with physiotherapy, ReturnToWorkSA will not pay non-attendance or cancellation fees, services invoiced in advance, written communication between a worker's treating practitioners, or more than one treatment session on the same day.
Load these fees into your practice software
- Cliniko supports bulk import of billable items under Settings, then Data & docs, then Data imports, choosing Billable items.
- Add a GST tax type first if you have not already, and set it on the ReturnToWorkSA occupational therapy items, since these fees are GST exclusive with GST added on top.
- Build a CSV with Item code, Name, Price (ex. tax), Taxable and Item type. Name each item with RTWSA and the code, for example "RTWSA OT105 Initial consultation". Because most items share the same $238.20 hourly rate, make the item name specific (driver assessment, workplace visit, case conference) so reception and reporting can tell them apart.
- OT390 (splint materials) and OT907 (travel expenses over 100km) have no fixed price, they reimburse reasonable cost. Load them at $0 as placeholders and add the actual cost to each invoice.
- Since most OT items share one hourly rate, a single price update each July covers almost the whole item list at once: export existing billable items, update the price column for the $238.20 group in one pass, and re-import, keeping the original export as a backup.
Sources
- From 1 July 2026 ReturnToWorkSA pays $238.20 per hour for both OT105 (Initial consultation) and OT205 (Subsequent consultation), exclusive of GST. ReturnToWorkSA, checked 25 Sep 2026.
- Driver assessment and report (OTDVA) is capped at a maximum of 5 hours and must be requested in writing by the claims manager, self-insured employer or treating medical practitioner. ReturnToWorkSA, checked 25 Sep 2026.
- All amounts in the ReturnToWorkSA occupational therapy fee schedule are exclusive of GST; where GST applies, the insurer pays the GST-exclusive fee plus the applicable GST amount. ReturnToWorkSA, checked 25 Sep 2026.
- Invoices are to be submitted within four weeks of service, and invoices received more than six months after the date of service may not be paid unless exceptional circumstances exist. ReturnToWorkSA, checked 25 Sep 2026.
- The insurer will only pay for services by an occupational therapist who is registered by ReturnToWorkSA and registered as an occupational therapist with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. ReturnToWorkSA, checked 25 Sep 2026.
- Cliniko's data import tool can create billable items from a CSV with the fields Item code, Name, Price (ex. tax), Taxable and Item type. Cliniko, checked 25 Sep 2026.