With 2022 being an election year, Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ESSA) was one of the peak bodies who advocated for their profession. In March 2022 ESSA released their election priorities, and it covered 5 main areas.

Affordability

ESSA has called for removing GST from exercise physiology in order to make services more affordable, citing that this would have an impact on clients such as:

• any of the 459,053 National Disability Insurance Scheme clients not in supported independent living, who access exercise physiology services as part of their packages as of September, 2021
• any of the 186,570 older Australians who access exercise physiology services as part of their home care packages as at September, 2021
• those Australians who access exercise physiology services via private health insurance and who pay privately to access exercise physiology services

ESSA pointed out that exercise physiology is the only standalone profession with a Chronic Disease Management Medical item that is not exempt from GST.

Expanded access for chronic disease

ESSA stated the costs involved in not providing adequate access to exercise physiology services for those with chronic health conditions. They cited a study which estimated:

• the total cost of physical inactivity for Australia in 2013 to be $805 million, this comprising $640 million in direct costs spent on health care and $165 million in indirect costs due to lost productivity from conditions and issues including disability, absenteeism, presenteeism, and informal care

ESSA provided details of the recommendation of the Allied Health Reference Group as part of the Medicare Benefits Scheme Review, which was to increase the number of allied health sessions for those under GP Chronic Disease Management Plans and team care arrangements using a risk stratification model and creating a new initial allied health assessment item. The ESSA report stated that “despite solid evidence which supported the clinical benefits and cost savings for these changes, these recommendations are yet to be implemented. The current restriction of five individual allied health sessions over a twelve-month period is insufficient to treat chronic conditions using evidence-based, best practice clinical guidelines, particularly where patients have more complex health issues or display higher risk factors. Some patients may require multiple sessions with one or more allied health professional/s in order for their care needs to be appropriately assessed and managed. Most patients need more than one allied health session – one to assess and a minimum of one session to treat, but generally require more sessions for effective treatment.”

Expanded access for mental health conditions

ESSA called for Accredited Exercise Physiologists to be added to the list of eligible allied health practitioners for existing individual and group items and any new allied mental health case conferencing items under the MBS Better Access Initiative. They stated that evidence for access to physical health services including exercise services from the time of first diagnosis of a mental health condition is supported by the Lancet Psychiatry Commission, the Productivity Commission Mental Health Inquiry Report and the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.

Expanded access in aged care

With the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety highlighting that allied health care services offered in Residential Aged Care Facilities is insufficient, making up just 2% of home care funding, ESSA called for investment in a preventative, reablement and restorative approach in aged care.

ESSA advocated for a mandate for allied health care in Residential Aged Care Facilities to include exercise physiologists, with specific investment to be made in clinical assessments to determine funding and care needs.

Increased preventative health measures

The bottom line ESSA recommended for preventative healthcare was for the investment to total 5% of annual health expenditure. The cited that in contrast, in 2018, Australian governments and compulsory schemes spent approximately 1.8% of their total health budget on preventative care as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).