D0904: The DVA Request/Referral Voucher, Explained

What the D0904 actually is

The D0904 — DVA Request/Referral Voucher is the form a health provider uses to refer a DVA client to another health provider. DVA describes it plainly: use this form to request referral of a DVA client to another health service provider. You will also see it written as D904, and providers often just call it “the DVA referral form” or “the voucher”.

It is a four-page template published by DVA for providers, not a claim form and not something a veteran fills in. It sits in DVA’s provider forms list under General Practitioner, and the current version dates from 3 April 2025.

It is a template, not a mandatory form. DVA publishes the D0904 to make referring easy and to make sure nothing required is left off. A referral written on your GP’s own letterhead is valid too, provided it carries everything DVA requires — which is set out below. Many allied health practices prefer the D0904 simply because it is unambiguous and they can see at a glance that the referral period is stated.

Who fills it in

Your referring practitioner — almost always your GP. Not you, and not the allied health provider you are being referred to.

That is worth being clear about, because the most common version of this problem is a veteran being told by a physio that they need a D0904, going back to the GP, and the GP’s reception not knowing what is being asked for. What you need is a referral from your GP that meets DVA’s requirements, on the D0904 or on letterhead. If you name the form, most practices will find it immediately.

What has to be on it

DVA requires a referral to include:

• the referring practitioner’s name
• their provider number
• the date of the request or referral, and the period of the referral
• other treating providers involved in your care

The one that gets missed is the period of referral. A referral with no period stated causes rejected invoices and a veteran sent back to the GP for a second appointment they should not have needed. If you are handed a referral, it is worth glancing at it before you leave to check a period is written on it.

How long it lasts

For allied health under DVA’s treatment cycle arrangements, a referral lasts up to 12 sessions or one year, whichever ends first.

So it is not twelve sessions and a year. If you use four sessions and twelve months pass, the referral is finished. If you use all twelve in three months, it is finished then. Whichever boundary you reach first closes the cycle.

At the end of a cycle, the allied health provider must send your GP an End of Cycle Report — DVA publishes a template for that too — and you return to your GP for a new referral if treatment should continue. There is no cap on the number of cycles; a veteran who needs ongoing physiotherapy can have cycle after cycle, provided the GP agrees each time that it is clinically warranted.

The full mechanics of the cycle, the disciplines it covers and the exemptions are set out here: the DVA treatment cycle explained.

Which providers need one

The treatment cycle, and therefore the referral, applies to allied health services — physiotherapy, podiatry, psychology, exercise physiology, occupational therapy, dietetics, speech pathology, chiropractic, osteopathy and the rest of the allied health group.

It is not the form used for a specialist referral, and it is not used for hospital admission or for diagnostic imaging, which have their own arrangements. If you are being referred to a psychiatrist or an orthopaedic surgeon, that is an ordinary specialist referral.

What it is not

• It is not a claim. A D0904 gets you treatment for an accepted condition. It has nothing to do with lodging or arguing a compensation claim, and nothing on it affects your claim.
• It is not proof DVA will pay. Payment depends on your card and, for a White Card, on the condition being accepted or covered under non-liability health care. A Gold Card holder is covered for all clinically required treatment; a White Card holder only for accepted or NLHC conditions.
• It is not something you should be charged for. If your GP bills DVA for the consultation, there should be no gap to you.

What changes in 2027

The treatment cycle is scheduled to be removed on 1 July 2027, replaced by an annual review threshold of $5,000 of allied health services per veteran per year. On the current announcements, veterans under that threshold will no longer need a new referral every twelve sessions.

Until then the twelve-session, one-year rule still applies, and the D0904 is still the form. We would not plan treatment around the 2027 change yet — transitional detail is still being settled, and some of it is not yet published.

If you are the GP

Two practical notes. First, complete the period of referral field every time; it is the field most often left blank and the one most often bounced. Second, when the End of Cycle Report arrives, it is worth actually reading before writing the next referral — it is the allied health provider telling you, in writing, whether the treatment is working. That report is also useful evidence of functional impairment if the veteran later needs a permanent impairment assessment.

Common questions

Talk to us

We are a veteran-focused general practice in Ipswich and we write DVA referrals as part of ordinary care. Call 0429 146 039 or email reception@vhc.org.au.

Related reading

The DVA treatment cycle · Aids, equipment and RAP · Gold, White and Orange card eligibility · Non-liability health care · our DVA GP clinic · The CVC Program

General information for Australian veterans and providers, current as at 17 September 2026; not medical advice. Form details, referral requirements and treatment cycle rules are published by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs — confirm current requirements at dva.gov.au or on 1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372).