Current as of 28 September 2026. Every figure on this page was checked against DVA's published schedules and provider notices on that date. When something moves, we update this page and say so.
Update, 28 September 2026: DVA confirmed to providers on 21 September that the proposed $5,000 threshold will not proceed and that veterans continue under current arrangements. The treatment cycle stays. The 2027 fee increase survives. Detail below.
What is in force today
The current DVA fee schedules for dental and allied health are those effective 1 July 2026. They have not changed since. If you are billing today, these are the figures.
DVA publishes a separate schedule of fees for each discipline, as PDF and DOCX. There are 21 in the 1 July 2026 set, including podiatrists, physiotherapists, exercise physiologists, chiropractors, osteopaths, orthotists, occupational therapists, dietitians, diabetes educators, psychologists, social workers and speech pathologists.
Alongside them sit the software vendor files, also effective 1 July 2026, in both XML and XLSX. These are what you load into your practice management system so your item codes and fees match what DVA will pay.
The update notice, and what it means for you
Since late August the fee schedules page has carried this notice directly under the 1 July 2026 heading:
Please note these documents are currently being updated, however for any queries regarding these fee schedules please email [email protected]
Nothing has actually changed. The 1 July 2026 schedules are still the operative ones and you should keep billing them. Worth knowing, though: the podiatry, physiotherapy and speech pathology PDFs in the July set are byte-for-byte the same size as the January 2026 versions, which is consistent with the files not yet having been fully re-issued. If an item fee looks wrong to you, that email address is the right first step rather than assuming the PDF is final.
Each discipline schedule notates the items that require prior financial authorisation. If an item carries that notation you must contact DVA for approval before starting treatment, not after. The schedules also flag restrictions placed on particular items. This is the single most common way clinics end up doing unpaid work, so it is worth reading the notes at the front of your own discipline's schedule rather than working from the fee column alone.
What is happening to the 2027 changes
DVA had planned to rebuild how it pays allied health providers from 1 July 2027. The Government dropped the contentious part of that package on 17 September 2026, and DVA confirmed the position to providers on 21 September. The fee increase survives.
The Government is investing $169.7 million, which DVA describes as the largest investment in veteran allied health provider fees in more than two decades. It responds to Recommendation 71 of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, which called for increases to DVA fee schedules to improve access to care.
Where each part now stands:
Provider fees increase. Confirmed. DVA restated on 21 September that the Budget fee increase remains, to encourage more providers to deliver services to DVA clients and reduce barriers to care. Item-level figures still have not been published.
The 12-session treatment cycle. Staying, for now. DVA says veterans continue under current arrangements, and links those words to its treatment cycle page. It may still change before 2027.
The $5,000 threshold. Dropped. Taken off the table on 17 September 2026 after four months of opposition.
The $5,000 threshold has been dropped
On 17 September 2026 the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Matt Keogh, issued a statement ending the measure: "We have been listening carefully and today, the Government is taking the proposed $5,000 threshold off the table."
It had a rough four months. The measure was condemned across the parliament, with the Coalition, Greens and crossbench all calling for it to be dumped, and veteran advocacy groups campaigning against it throughout. The crossbench passed the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Veterans' Healthcare Without Caps) 2026 calling for it to go. DVA has since removed its own page setting out the changes.
The treatment cycle stays
When the threshold was dropped, the open question was what happened to the treatment cycle, because the threshold had been designed to replace it. DVA has answered it. Its notice to providers says eligible Veteran Card holders "will continue to access allied health treatment under the current arrangements", and links those words directly to its treatment cycle page.
Under those arrangements a referral covers up to 12 sessions or a year, whichever ends first. Referrals usually come from the veteran's GP, and can also come from a specialist or a hospital discharge planner. You prepare a Patient Care Plan at the start of the cycle and send a report to the GP at the end, and the GP decides whether a new referral is clinically needed. A veteran can have separate cycles running for different disciplines at the same time, and there is no cap on the number of cycles.
TPI Gold Card holders are exempt for physiotherapy and exercise physiology only. They do not need treatment cycle referrals for those two disciplines. For podiatry, occupational therapy, psychology and every other discipline, the cycle applies to them as it does to everyone else.
Referrals are still required every 12 sessions. Anyone who stopped sending veterans back to their GP after the original announcement will need to start again.
What is confirmed and what is not
Confirmed: the fee increase is going ahead, stated by the Minister on 17 September and by DVA to providers on 21 September. The treatment cycle stays. The $169.7 million and the Recommendation 71 basis stand.
Not confirmed: when item-level fees will be published, whether the fee increase still starts 1 July 2027 now that it stands alone, and what happens to the treatment cycle after that. The Minister said the Government will keep working with veterans and providers on the objective behind the package, which included cutting the referral burden, while keeping oversight of treatment. No replacement for the threshold has been proposed.
The claim window halves from July 2027
From 1 July 2027 you will have one year from the date of service to submit a DVA claim, down from two. DVA announced it on 29 September 2026, to align with Medicare bulk billing and because older claims are harder to verify. Claims older than a year will go through the existing late lodgement process. Services delivered before 1 July 2026 that have not yet been claimed should be lodged before 1 July 2027.
Which disciplines are covered
The fee increases cover chiropractic, diabetes education, dietetics, exercise physiology, occupational therapy, orthotics, osteopathy, physiotherapy, podiatry, psychology, social work and speech therapy.
They do not cover medical services including GP and specialist consultations such as psychiatry, nor dental, optical or hearing services.
How big is the fee increase likely to be
Item-level fees have not been published, but DVA gave one figure that hints at the scale. Based on 2024-25 usage it put median annual allied health expenditure at around $1,900 per Veteran Card holder, and expected that to reach around $2,600 once fees increased. That is roughly a 37% lift in what DVA pays per veteran. Treat it as an indication rather than a promise, since it was published alongside a package that has since been partly withdrawn.
MyService spend visibility
DVA had planned to update MyService so Veteran Card holders could see their allied health expenditure in near real time. That was designed to support the threshold. Whether it survives without it has not been said.
Where consultation stands
Consultation had been running to 30 October 2026. DVA has removed the page that hosted it, and its 21 September notice thanks everyone who took part in consultation activities, which reads as that process having closed.
There is nothing open to make a submission to at the moment. We will flag it if DVA opens a new process.
Everything else
DVA is one of five payers we track. For Medicare, NDIS and the state workers compensation schemes, start at The Billing Reference, which carries the current status of every schedule in one place.
We check these pages so you do not have to, and we send what changed every fortnight. Subscribing is free.