How to Start a Physiotherapy Practice in Australia

To start a physiotherapy practice in Australia, you need general registration with the Physiotherapy Board of Australia through Ahpra, your own professional indemnity insurance that meets the Board's standard, and a business with an ABN. Register a business name if you trade under anything other than your own name, and register for GST once your GST turnover reaches $75,000. Add a Medicare provider number if you want to see patients under a GP chronic condition management plan, and remember that the Privacy Act 1988 applies to your practice from the first patient, however small it is.

It is written for Australian physios leaving an employed job to work for themselves, from a single rented room to a clinic with staff. Everything below comes from the regulators' own pages as they read on 29 September 2026. Nothing here is legal, tax or insurance advice. It is general education, and the rules and fees can change. Before you sign a lease or an insurance policy, check the current version with the body named in each section, then go through your own situation with an accountant and your insurer.

What the Physiotherapy Board expects before your first private patient

The standards do not change when you leave an employer. What changes is that nobody else keeps track of them for you. Three of the Board's standards matter most at this point: professional indemnity insurance (PII), recency of practice and continuing professional development (CPD). All three apply to every registered physiotherapist except those with student or non-practising registration. You declare that you meet them when you renew, and the Board can audit any of them.

Professional indemnity insurance

This is the standard that changes most for a physio who has always been covered by an employer. The Board's PII standard, in effect since 1 July 2016, says your own or third party cover must apply "for all aspects of your practice" and "cover all locations where you practise", whether you are "practising full-time, part-time, self-employed, employed, or in an unpaid or volunteer capacity". When you apply for registration you declare that you will not practise without PII arrangements that meet the standard, and you declare it again each year at renewal.

Employer cover stops at the edge of your job. The standard says: "If your PII arrangements are provided by your employer, and you intend to practise outside your stated employment, you must have individual PII arrangements in place to cover that practice." So if you start seeing private patients on Saturdays while still employed during the week, those Saturday patients need cover of your own.

The policy must include civil liability cover, "appropriate retroactive cover for otherwise uncovered matters arising from prior practice", and automatic reinstatement. The standard defines automatic reinstatement as a provision that restores the limit of indemnity for new, unrelated claims after one or more claims have been paid up to that limit. It also advises checking that your insurer is registered with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) as a general insurer, or is a Lloyd's underwriter.

The Board does not set a dollar amount. It says insurers "are best placed to advise you on what level of cover is adequate and appropriate for your practice", and that you must give your insurer accurate, up-to-date information about the scope and nature of your practice. If your policy specifically excludes an area of practice, the standard says you must not practise in that area. A practical suggestion from clinic experience, not a rule in the standard: tell your insurer before you add a new service or start home visits, not after.

A few administrative rules come with it:

If the insurance is in your own name, keep documentary evidence of it for at least five years.
If you no longer have cover that meets the standard, notify the Board within seven days.
The Board may ask for evidence of your cover at any time.
When you cease practice, including closing your own practice, you must take out appropriate run-off cover for matters from your earlier practice that would otherwise be uncovered.

Recency of practice

The recency standard asks for "a minimum of 450 hours of physiotherapy practice during the three-years before the start of the registration period", or "150 hours of physiotherapy practice in the previous registration year". The standard defines practice broadly. It is not limited to direct clinical care, so work in management, education or research within the profession counts. Keep records that show you meet the standard for five years in case of audit.

This matters most for a physio returning from a long break to open a practice. If you do not meet the standard and want to return, the Board will need information from you to decide whether you can practise, so check your hours before you book patients.

Continuing professional development

The CPD standard says you must "complete a minimum of 20 hours of CPD each year". You also keep a portfolio of all CPD you do, with a record of your learning aims and reflection on how it changed your practice, and choose activities that maintain and improve your competence in your chosen scope of practice. Keep CPD records for five years.

If you register part way through a registration period, the pro rata rule is five hours of CPD for every three months of registration remaining. In private practice nobody books the course for you or sends a reminder, so a practical suggestion is to put your CPD hours in the diary in the first month of the year.

Telling the Board where you practise

Under section 132 of the National Law, the Board can send you a written notice asking for your practice information. The Ahpra guideline on this explains that a self-employed practitioner would then give the address of each premises where they practise and each business name they practise under. If they share premises and the cost of those premises with other registered practitioners, they also give those practitioners' names. The guideline says these notices are usually issued in relation to a notification or while monitoring registration conditions. Separately, your principal place of practice is the address you declare as the place you mainly practise, so update it when you move into your own rooms.

Setting up the business: structure, ABN and business name

business.gov.au lists the common business structures in Australia, among them sole trader, partnership, company and trust. The structure decides how you are taxed and how much personal liability you carry, and you need it settled before the other registrations. As a practical suggestion, talk to an accountant at this stage.

An Australian Business Number is, in business.gov.au's words, "a unique 11-digit number that identifies your business to the government, other businesses and the public." You need to be running a business or other enterprise to get one, and registering through the Australian Business Register is free. If you give all the information needed, you find out about your ABN as soon as you finish the online application: you get the number, a refusal, or a reference number if the application needs further review. After that, you have 28 days to update your details once you become aware of a change.

The business name rule is simple. business.gov.au says: "You need to register a business name if it's different to your own name." A sole trader trading under their own name does not need to register one, and neither do partners trading under their own names or a company trading under its legal name. Adding a word changes that. A sole trader called Jane Citizen who trades as "Jane Citizen Physiotherapy" needs to register that name, just as business.gov.au's own example, Tessa Le trading as "Tessa Le's Cupcakes", does.

Business names are registered nationally through ASIC. Before you apply, have your structure chosen and your ABN in hand, and check that the name is free on the ASIC register and with IP Australia's TM Checker. ASIC's fees from 1 July 2026 are $47 for 1 year or $108 for 3 years, and business.gov.au listed the same amounts on 28 September 2026. Two more points from business.gov.au. Registering a business name "doesn't mean you have exclusive rights to use it", which takes a trade mark, and the name must be visible wherever you do business and on invoices and quotes.

Does a physiotherapy practice need to register for GST?

Whether your fees attract GST and whether you must register are two separate questions. Take the fees first. The ATO lists physiotherapy among the health services that can be GST-free, when three conditions are met: "it is a listed health service", it is performed by a recognised health professional in that service, and "the service is generally accepted in that listed health profession as being necessary for the appropriate treatment of the recipient of the supply." A recognised health professional, the ATO explains, is "registered, permitted, or approved under state or territory law to provide the listed health service."

Appropriate treatment has its own meaning. According to the ATO, it is when a health professional uses their professional skills to "assess a patient's health", to "work out a course of action to preserve, restore or improve the patient's physical or psychological wellbeing", and to supply a treatment their profession generally accepts as appropriate for that patient. Not everything a clinic sells will meet all three conditions, so ask your accountant to go through each service and anything else you plan to sell.

Registration is the second question. The ATO says you must register for GST when your business or enterprise has a GST turnover of $75,000 or more, or when you start a new business and expect to reach that threshold in the first year. Once you are required to register, you need to do so "within 21 days". You need an ABN first.

The ATO describes GST turnover as your total business income (not your profit), minus five things: the GST included in sales to your customers, sales to associates that aren't for payment and aren't taxable, sales not connected with an enterprise you run, input-taxed sales, and sales not connected with Australia. GST-free sales are not on that list. The threshold is met on either your current turnover (this month and the previous 11) or your projected turnover (this month and the next 11), so ask your accountant to check both before you open, even if most of your fees are GST-free.

Medicare provider numbers for physiotherapists

According to PrivateHealth.gov.au, Medicare does not cover "most physiotherapy". In private practice the main exception is a patient on a GP chronic condition management plan (until 1 July 2027, the older GP management plan with team care arrangements also qualifies), and to see those patients under Medicare you need a provider number. MBS note MN.3.1 says: "To provide MBS services eligible health professionals must have a Medicare Provider Number." The note also says the qualification and credentialling requirements for these services are set out in a separate allied health Determination.

Services Australia issues Medicare provider numbers. To apply online for your first one, you need a Provider Digital Access (PRODA) account to use Health Professional Online Services (HPOS). In HPOS, go to My Details and choose My Digital Provider Number Registration. Select Apply and answer the questions.

Services Australia also says you need an additional provider number if you work in a new practice location or for a new service at the same location, and that you should wait 2 business days after getting an additional number before you submit claims with it. Once you have a number, the plan has its own rules: who is eligible, the 5 services a calendar year shared across professions, referral letters, reports back to the GP and item 10960. The guide to Medicare-funded physio under a GP chronic condition management plan goes through them.

Private health insurance: getting recognised by insurers

PrivateHealth.gov.au also notes that many services Medicare leaves out "can be covered on private health insurance general treatment (extras) policies", so patients with extras cover will want to claim for your sessions. Before you open, ask each insurer your patients are likely to use what it needs from a new practice and its physios before its members can claim. Some insurers also run preferred provider arrangements. Joining one is a business decision, so read the terms first.

The patient's side of this is in the guide to private health insurance and physio in Australia. It explains annual limits and waiting periods, what the gap is, the qualification rule for physio covered by a policy, and why one session cannot be paid by Medicare and a health fund together.

NDIS registration is optional

You do not have to register with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission to see NDIS participants, but registration decides which participants you can see. The NDIA tells participants they "must use registered providers for" NDIA-managed supports, plan-manager services and regulated services such as behaviour support. Participants who self-manage their funding, or use a registered plan manager, "can choose either registered or unregistered providers for other supports".

The NDIS Commission sets out what registration involves. You apply online and assess yourself against the NDIS Practice Standards, you then go through a quality audit, and your key personnel need a valid NDIS worker screening clearance. Staying unregistered avoids the application and the audit but closes off NDIA-managed participants. The NDIS physiotherapy guide has more on registration and the NDIS price limits. It also covers service agreements and cancellations.

Privacy: the Privacy Act applies whatever your size

The Privacy Act 1988 has a small business exemption, and it does not help a physio practice. The OAIC defines a small business as "one with an annual turnover of $3 million or less", and its list of small businesses that the Act still covers includes "a health service provider". A health service provider, in the OAIC's words, "provides services in relation to physical, emotional, psychological and mental health." So the 13 Australian Privacy Principles apply to a one-room practice just as they do to a large clinic.

The OAIC has two resources worth reading before you open. Its Guide to health privacy, updated 9 May 2025, is written for health service providers "from doctors and private sector hospitals, through to allied health professionals". Its Privacy action plan for your health practice sets out 8 steps:

Develop and implement a privacy management plan.
Develop clear lines of accountability for privacy management.
Create a documented record of the types of personal information you handle.
Understand your privacy obligations and implement processes to meet them.
Hold staff training sessions on privacy obligations.
Create a privacy policy.
Protect the information you hold.
Develop a data breach response plan.

According to the same plan, you need to take reasonable steps so that your privacy policy is available free of charge and in an appropriate format, for example on your website. State and territory laws can add their own rules. The shared Code of conduct asks you to be aware of the privacy and health records legislation in your state or territory and to apply it to information in all formats, electronic records included.

Advertising your new practice

Advertising rules apply from the day your website goes live. The shared Code of conduct sums them up: advertising "should not be false, misleading or deceptive, use testimonials about clinical aspects of a regulated health service, create an unreasonable expectation of benefit or encourage the indiscriminate or unnecessary use of regulated health services." Any gift, discount or other inducement must state its terms and conditions in plain language, which is worth remembering if you plan an opening offer.

The detail, including Ahpra's testimonial rules, what counts as a testimonial on your own social media pages, and the Spam Act rules for messages to past patients, is in the physical therapy marketing guide.

Health records in a private practice

Section 8.3 of the shared Code of conduct sets the baseline for physios. Good practice includes that you "keep accurate, up-to-date, factual, objective and legible records" of clinical history, findings, investigations, information given to patients and management, "in a form that can be understood by other health practitioners". Records must be held securely, show respect for patients and be enough for someone else to continue care. You also "make records at the time of events or as soon as possible afterwards", and patients have a right to access what is in their records.

The Physiotherapy Board also lists two Ahpra resources on managing health records, a summary of obligations and a self-reflective tool, both dated 20 April 2023. Ahpra's summary adds that each record should clearly identify the date and time of the service, who provided it and, when relevant, where it was provided. How long you keep records depends on the privacy and health records laws that apply where you practise, so check them before you choose your clinical software. The Code expects records to be transferred or managed under privacy and health records law when a patient asks, or when you close or relocate the practice (Ahpra's summary adds retirement), so pick a system that can export them cleanly. The SOAP notes guide covers what to write in each note.

Checklist before you open

Confirm your general registration is current and your recency hours are met.
Arrange professional indemnity insurance in your own name that meets the Board's standard, and give the insurer a full description of what you will do.
Choose a business structure with an accountant.
Apply for an ABN, then register a business name if you will not trade under your own name.
Work out your projected GST turnover and which of your services are GST-free.
Apply to Services Australia for a Medicare provider number if you will see patients under a GP chronic condition management plan.
Contact the private health insurers your patients use about recognising your practice.
Decide whether to register as an NDIS provider.
Write your privacy policy and data breach response plan, and set up secure records.
Before the website goes live, test every page and any opening offer against the advertising rules.
Put your fees in writing. The shared Code of conduct (section 4.2) lists getting financial consent, preferably before the service is provided, as good practice, and the cancellation policy guide covers the missed-session side.

Where PocketPhysio fits

Registration, tax and billing sit outside PocketPhysio. It deals with the home program, the exercises a patient does on their own between appointments. Choose them from the library and, for each one, set how many sets and reps, with a hold time if the exercise needs it. Then add a cue in the words you would use in the clinic. Patients see a video of each exercise and hear a spoken voice guide with it.

They get it by link, SMS or email. If the patient has Pocket Physio Care, the patient app, it shows up there, and WhatsApp can be used as well. At the follow-up you can open what you prescribed last time and progress it. Pricing is listed in the app. Picking exercises and setting the dose have their own guide: how to write a home exercise program.

Summary: what to sort out, in order

To start a physiotherapy practice in Australia, work through it in this order.

The Board's standards. Employer cover does not follow you, so you need your own PII that meets the standard. You also need 20 hours of CPD a year, and 450 hours of practice in three years or 150 in the last year.
The business: a structure, a free ABN, a registered business name unless you trade under your own name, and GST registration once your GST turnover reaches $75,000, even though many physio services are GST-free.
The numbers that open doors: a Medicare provider number, recognition by private health insurers and NDIS registration each open the door to a different group of patients. Some of that can wait.
The rules that cannot wait: the Privacy Act, the advertising rules and the Code's record-keeping standards apply in full from day one, whatever the size of the practice.

References

Physiotherapy Board of Australia. Registration standard: Professional indemnity insurance arrangements. Effective 1 July 2016. Listed on the Registration standards page (page reviewed 21 July 2026). Accessed 28 September 2026. https://www.physiotherapyboard.gov.au/Registration-Standards.aspx
Physiotherapy Board of Australia. Registration standard: Recency of practice. Effective 1 December 2016. Listed on the Registration standards page (page reviewed 21 July 2026). Accessed 28 September 2026. https://www.physiotherapyboard.gov.au/Registration-Standards.aspx
Physiotherapy Board of Australia. Registration standard: Continuing professional development. Effective 1 December 2015. Listed on the Registration standards page (page reviewed 21 July 2026). Accessed 28 September 2026. https://www.physiotherapyboard.gov.au/Registration-Standards.aspx
Physiotherapy Board of Australia. Codes, guidelines and policies, including Guideline: Informing a National Board about where you practise (version 1.0, 1 August 2018) and Managing health records: Summary of obligations and Self-reflective tool (20 April 2023). Page reviewed 17 October 2025. Accessed 28 September 2026. https://www.physiotherapyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines.aspx
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and National Boards. Shared Code of conduct, June 2022, sections 3.3 (Confidentiality and privacy), 4.2 (Informed consent), 8.3 (Health records), 8.4 (Insurance) and 8.5 (Advertising). Accessed 28 September 2026. https://www.ahpra.gov.au/Resources/Code-of-conduct/Shared-Code-of-conduct.aspx
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. Managing health records. Page reviewed 15 September 2026. Accessed 28 September 2026. https://www.ahpra.gov.au/Resources/Managing-health-records.aspx
business.gov.au. Business structures. No date shown. Accessed 28 September 2026. https://business.gov.au/planning/business-structures-and-types/business-structures
business.gov.au. Register for an Australian Business Number (ABN). No date shown. Accessed 28 September 2026. https://business.gov.au/registrations/register-for-an-australian-business-number-abn
business.gov.au. Choose a business name. No date shown. Accessed 28 September 2026. https://business.gov.au/planning/new-businesses/choose-a-business-name
business.gov.au. Register your business name. No date shown. Accessed 28 September 2026. https://business.gov.au/registrations/register-your-business-name
Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Schedules of business names fees, fees from 1 July 2026. Accessed 28 September 2026. https://www.asic.gov.au/for-business-and-companies/forms-and-fees/all-fees/schedules-of-business-names-fees
Australian Taxation Office. Registering for GST. QC 22412, last updated 14 September 2026. Accessed 29 September 2026. https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/gst-excise-and-indirect-taxes/gst/registering-for-gst
Australian Taxation Office. GST and health: Other health services. QC 16263, last updated 12 June 2024. Accessed 29 September 2026. https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/gst-excise-and-indirect-taxes/gst/in-detail/your-industry/gst-and-health/other-health-services
Australian Taxation Office. GST and health: Appropriate treatment. QC 16263, last updated 12 June 2024. Accessed 28 September 2026. https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/gst-excise-and-indirect-taxes/gst/in-detail/your-industry/gst-and-health/appropriate-treatment
Department of Health and Aged Care (the name shown on MBS Online). MBS Online. Note MN.3.1, Individual allied health and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing services (health services) for treating chronic conditions. Publication date 1 November 2025. Accessed 28 September 2026. https://www9.health.gov.au/mbs/fullDisplay.cfm?type=note&q=MN.3.1
Services Australia. Apply for initial provider and prescriber numbers. QC 74011, page last updated 27 June 2025. Accessed 29 September 2026. https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/apply-for-initial-provider-and-prescriber-numbers
Services Australia. Apply for additional provider numbers. QC 74015, page last updated 31 October 2025. Accessed 29 September 2026. https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/apply-for-additional-provider-numbers
Private Health Insurance Ombudsman. PrivateHealth.gov.au. What is covered by Medicare? No date shown. Accessed 28 September 2026. https://www.privatehealth.gov.au/health_insurance/what_is_covered/medicare.htm
National Disability Insurance Agency. What is a provider. Page current as of 3 June 2026. Accessed 28 September 2026. https://www.ndis.gov.au/participants/working-providers/get-know-your-providers/what-provider
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Apply for registration. No date shown. Accessed 28 September 2026. https://www.ndiscommission.gov.au/provider-registration/apply-registration
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Small business. No date shown. Accessed 28 September 2026. https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-guidance-for-organisations-and-government-agencies/organisations/small-business
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Australian Privacy Principles. No date shown. Accessed 28 September 2026. https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/australian-privacy-principles
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Guide to health privacy. Updated 9 May 2025. Accessed 28 September 2026. https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-guidance-for-organisations-and-government-agencies/health-service-providers/guide-to-health-privacy
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Privacy action plan for your health practice. Published 8 October 2019. Accessed 28 September 2026. https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-guidance-for-organisations-and-government-agencies/health-service-providers/privacy-action-plan-for-your-health-practice

Written and checked by the PocketPhysio editorial team. Last updated 2026-09-29.

How to start a physiotherapy practice in Australia: registration, tax, Medicare and privacy