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You pay in full at booking and claim your rebate yourself. An invoice is issued after each session with what a claim needs. Direct claiming is being built.

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How it works

1

Pay in full at booking

Your card is charged the therapist’s published price plus card processing.
2

Collect your invoice

Under Billing after the session, with the MBS item number where the service has one. See Invoices and receipts.
3

Claim it yourself

Lodge it with Medicare, your private health fund, or your NDIS plan manager.

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Seeing the gap before you book

Where a therapist has attached an MBS item, the booking panel and the services list show the gap as the figure you will pay, with the listed price underneath as at booking. Your billing list shows what you should get back on each invoice. The figures come from the Medicare Benefits Schedule, so they move when it’s indexed. Your own claim depends on your plan.

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Medicare and care guide

Medicare & Care Guide on the directory, and in the footer, opens a search over Better Access rules, Mental Health Treatment Plan session caps, referral portability and rebate tiers. Ask a question or pick one of the suggested topics. It explains the rules. It is not clinical advice, and it asks you not to type personal health information.
The Medicare and Mental Health Care Guide, headed Australian Care Navigation, with a search field reading Ask about Medicare rebates, 10 MHTP sessions, GP referrals, an Explain button, and suggested questions about Mental Health Treatment Plan sessions, clinical versus registered psychologists, and using a GP referral with a different therapist

The in-app guide sits at /care-guide

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Medicare

You generally need a Mental Health Treatment Plan from your GP before your first session, and the therapist must be eligible to provide services under it.
1

See your GP

Ask about a Mental Health Treatment Plan. It usually involves a short assessment.
2

Check the therapist accepts Medicare

Their profile lists funding types with a tick or a dash under Rebates and funding. You can also filter the directory by Medicare rebate.
3

Give them your plan and referral

Upload it under Documents, or bring it to your first session.
4

Claim after each session

Lodge the invoice through the Medicare app, myGov, or at a Medicare office.
A plan covers a set number of subsidised sessions per calendar year, and your GP reviews it part-way through. You can’t claim on a session you didn’t attend.

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Private health extras

If your policy includes extras cover for the discipline, you can usually claim part of the fee. Annual limits apply, and you can’t claim both Medicare and private health for the same session. Check the therapist’s profile for whether your fund recognises them, and your policy for what’s left of your limit.

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NDIS

Disability support workers are engaged by roster and service agreement, invoiced after each shift, with plan managers billed direct. See Therapist profiles.

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DVA

Some therapists accept DVA White and Gold Cards, and you can filter the directory by DVA. Checkout charges the published fee, so arrange a DVA-funded session with the practitioner directly — message them from their profile.

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Not available yet

  • Bulk billing
  • Direct Medicare claiming at the point of payment
  • Direct NDIS agency invoicing
  • WorkCover bookings
Arrange these with the practitioner outside Open Therapy, or write to support@opentherapy.app.

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Finding therapists by funding

Filter the directory by Funding — Medicare rebate, NDIS, Private health, DVA, or Sliding scale for therapists who publish reduced fees. Therapists whose listed fee is covered in full wear a No gap badge on their card and sit under the No gap with Medicare price filter. See Browse the directory.
Open Therapy can’t tell you what your plan covers or what you’ll get back. Talk to your accountant or your plan manager.