The DVA Treatment Cycle - and Why It Disappears on 1 July 2027

How the cycle works now

Introduced on 1 October 2019. A GP referral to an allied health provider lasts 12 sessions or one year, whichever ends first. DVA frames it around the GP: “The treatment cycle reinforces your key role as our client’s care coordinator.”

There is no limit on the number of cycles. DVA: “Clients can have as many treatment cycles as you decide are clinically necessary.” You can also run several cycles at once with different disciplines — a separate referral for each. DVA’s own example is a veteran seeing a dietitian, a podiatrist and a physiotherapist concurrently.

The referral

Who can make the initial referral: a GP, another medical specialist, or a hospital-based health professional as part of discharge. After that, “the usual treating GP is required to make any future referrals.”

How: either the DVA request/referral voucher — officially D0904, also written D904 — or a referral letter on letterhead containing all seven required elements:

Date of referral, name and DVA file number
Treatment entitlement
Confirmation that the referrer is the usual GP
Name of the residential aged care facility, if relevant
Clinical details
Description of the conditions to be treated, or reasons for referral
Other treating health care providers, if relevant

The referral should specify the conditions the provider will treat. A new referral may be required after a considerable break between treatments — DVA gives more than three months as the example — and the allied health provider decides whether one is needed.

The Patient Care Plan, and the in-person rule

Each cycle “must start with an initial in person allied health consultation and include a Patient Care Plan.” If in-person genuinely is not possible and telehealth is clinically appropriate, the provider can request prior approval.

Clinical notes can serve as the Patient Care Plan if they contain the ten required elements — referrer name and provider number, referral and initial consult dates, conditions, patient goals, the planned treatment regimen including modality and anticipated number and frequency, aids and appliances, expected outcomes and timelines, objective validated outcome measures and diagnosis, and a record of the client’s agreement. DVA wants SMART goals. The client, the GP or DVA can request a copy.

The end-of-cycle report — mandatory

“The allied health provider must provide an end of cycle report to the client’s usual GP/practice.” It may come:

at the end of treatment,
after eight sessions where more treatment is necessary,
after 12 sessions, or
after one year, if 12 sessions were not reached.

If fewer sessions are needed, the report can be prepared after at least two treatments. It must cover all conditions treated, span at least two sessions, and assess progress using validated outcome measures with recommendations. There is a mandatory DVA template. If someone other than the GP made the referral, the report goes to them with a copy to the GP. DVA pays the provider $30 (excl GST) to prepare it.

The GP and veteran then review the report and decide whether further treatment is clinically necessary — and a new referral is required to continue.

Which disciplines are inside the cycle

Sixteen: chiropractic; clinical psychology; diabetes education; dietetics; exercise physiology; neuropsychology; occupational therapy; occupational therapy (mental health); orthotic services; osteopathy; physiotherapy; podiatry; psychology; social work; social work (mental health); speech pathology.

What sits outside it

Dental, optical and hearing services — no cycle referral needed.
Open Arms counselling — entirely outside.
Therapies with their own DVA-set limits: trauma focused therapy, lymphoedema treatment, Lee Silverman Voice Therapy, multidisciplinary case conference.
Referrals to specialist doctors, including surgeons and psychiatrists — unchanged, never part of the cycle.
TPI Gold Card holders are exempt for exercise physiology and physiotherapy only — identified by “TPI” on the front of the card, and extending to Special Rate Disability Pension recipients. The cycle still applies to them for other disciplines.

Psychology is inside the cycle. A common misconception is that mental health is exempt. It is not — psychology, clinical psychology, neuropsychology, OT (mental health) and social work (mental health) all run on 12-session cycles. Three genuine carve-outs: trauma focused therapy has its own limits, Open Arms sits outside entirely, and psychiatry is a specialist service the cycle never touched.

The At Risk Client Framework

For “rare and exceptional cases” — complex psychosocial factors, severe health needs, severe functional impairment — the usual treating GP can request tailored referral arrangements of 3, 6 or 12 months using form D9549 — At Risk Assessment Form, emailed to treatment.cycle@dva.gov.au.

Importantly: “The assessment form is not a request. We do not need to approve it before you can refer your client to a health provider.” At the end of the period the GP decides whether to submit another form or return to the standard cycle. Very few veterans or GPs know this exists.

What changes on 1 July 2027

Announced in the 2026–27 Federal Budget and responding to Recommendation 71 of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide:

The 12-session treatment cycle is removed. Veteran Card holders will still need an initial GP referral but “will no longer need GP referrals after every 12 sessions to access allied health care.”
A $5,000 annual threshold for reviewing treatment is introduced. DVA frames it as a review point rather than a hard cap: cardholders needing more “will still be able to receive clinically necessary treatment”, treatment is reviewed with the health care team, and veterans “can continue accessing treatment while DVA considers any request for additional care”. DVA “will fund additional services where there is a demonstrated clinical need.”
The threshold does not apply to cardholders eligible for the Special Rate Disability Pension or TPI Pension, or those determined to be catastrophically injured.
Open Arms psychology and counselling are unaffected and do not count towards the threshold.
Provider fees rise, funded by $169.7 million — described by DVA as the largest investment in veteran allied health provider fees in more than two decades — across chiropractic, diabetes education, dietetics, exercise physiology, OT, orthotics, osteopathy, physiotherapy, podiatry, psychology, social work and speech therapy.
Not affected: medical services including GP and specialist care such as psychiatry, and dental, optical and hearing services.
MyService will be updated so cardholders can see allied health expenditure in near real time.

For scale: based on 2024–25 usage, median annual allied health expenditure was about $1,900 per cardholder, expected to be around $2,600 after the fee increase.

The design is not final. Consultation closes 30 October 2026, and DVA says feedback “will help inform the final design of the process, supporting guidance, provider notes and communication products before the arrangements start on 1 July 2027.” So how a request above the threshold is made, and what evidence a GP must supply, is not yet settled. Anyone stating those mechanics now is speculating. The policy has also been contested in Parliament — see the Senate votes and our full explainer.

What this means practically

Two things. First, until 1 July 2027 nothing changes: get the referral, use the twelve, make sure the end-of-cycle report reaches your GP, get the next referral. If treatment keeps stopping, the usual cause is the report not arriving — chase the provider, not DVA.

Second, after 1 July 2027 the GP’s role shifts from gatekeeping every twelve sessions to justifying clinical need at the threshold. If a needs-based mechanism is what eventuates, the veterans who move through it cleanly will be those whose functional need is properly documented by their treating team. Good records are never wasted — and allied health funding of every kind still flows from the conditions DVA has accepted in the first place.

Talk to us

Call 0429 146 039 or email reception@vhc.org.au — Veterans Health Centre, Ipswich, Queensland.

The DVA Allied Health Treatment Cycle — and Why It Disappears on 1 July 2027