Hi All
Just a reminder that from September 1 there will be a couple of changes in procedures when redeeming your EPC sessions with the exercise physiologists (Charlotte, Bridie, Zach, Bronte and, soon, Charlie). If you use them for a program reviews (appointment type: new program) or for a 30 minute professional consultation for health purposes, you will now be asked to help fund these sessions with a small gap payment.
Up until now we have bulk billed the EPC sessions used for this purpose. Unfortunately, it has been nearly a decade now of frozen Medicare support and now we have to charge a small gap payment. The sessions for a program review with the exercise physiologist will now be 30 minutes in duration and will attract a $9 gap payment.
If more time is needed a further half hour EPC session can be booked. Alternatively if you really prefer the full hour session with the exercise physiologist, the gap payment will be $49 because, whether the appointment is 30 minutes or 60 minutes, the Medicare rebate remains the same @ $56.
We have an information sheet at Reception which will explain this in more depth.
One thing I would really recommend you do from now on, if you haven’t already been doing this, is to fill in a Feedback Form for the exercise physiologist to read and absorb prior to your appointment. Ask for these at Reception when you book your appointment. Recently a member asked me what is the best use of these EPC sessions with the Exercise Physiologist. It is a really good question because ideally the AEP time should be spent on the very specific needs and goals that you have as an individual. When I was programming for clients many years ago, I would maintain certain exercise staples that the client really needed to keep for their regular body-maintenance and then I would focus on one particular aspect in their program for the following 8 weeks—possibly shoulder rehab, or knee rehab, or prepping for an active holiday. This type of programming is also best used by the exercise physiologists when they are helping you with the areas of your rehab or health. You help by making decisions about some of the base level exercises you want to keep, so they can focus on what they need to give you for “exercise as medicine”. If you think about this before you write your feedback you will get the most our of your AEP time.
We are lucky to have such a great “exercise as medicine” pathway within Green Apple with medically-trained and passionate-about-their work exercise physiologists. And for those of you whom have no medical issues, we still have the “mainstream” pathway where you can still access the exercise professionals (Darrol, Katrina, Wanda and Loretta) for your programs.
Cheers
