If you have ever been told to “do more exercise” for a chronic condition, you will know how unhelpful that advice can be on its own.
More exercise. What kind? How hard? For how long? What if it hurts? What if your cardiologist said one thing, your surgeon said another, and the last time you tried you ended up sore for a week and gave up?
That gap, between knowing exercise helps and knowing exactly how to do it safely for your body, is the space an Accredited Exercise Physiologist works in.
In August 2026, Deloitte Access Economics published a national report commissioned by Exercise & Sports Science Australia (ESSA) that put a number on the value of that work. Across six major condition groups, exercise physiology was estimated to deliver $1.09 billion in net economic benefit over three years, with every dollar invested returning about $2.50.
That is a headline written for policymakers. Underneath it is something more useful to you: the clearest picture yet of what exercise physiologists actually do, who they help, and what changes for the people who see one.
Here is what the report found, and what it means if you are living with a chronic condition, an injury, a disability, or a diagnosis you are still making sense of.
First, What Is an Exercise Physiologist?
An Accredited Exercise Physiologist (AEP) is a university-qualified allied health professional who assesses, prescribes and delivers clinical exercise interventions for people with chronic conditions, injuries and disabilities.
The word “exercise” does a lot of work in that sentence, and it can be misleading. An AEP is not a personal trainer, and an exercise physiology appointment is not a gym session with supervision.
The report describes the role as delivering “structured, individually tailored and clinically informed interventions that extend beyond the non-clinical exercise support offered in general fitness settings”. In practice, that means:
- A full assessment of your functional capacity, clinical history, medications, risk profile and goals before anything is prescribed
- An exercise program designed around your specific condition and comorbidities, not a template
- Behaviour change and health coaching support, because a program you cannot sustain is not a program
- Progression over time, adjusted as your capacity, symptoms and confidence change
- Outcome measurement and progress review, with reports back to your GP or specialist
- Care coordination with the rest of your team, which might include physiotherapy, dietetics, occupational therapy or social work
The report makes an important distinction that is worth holding onto. Exercise is the mechanism, not the outcome. The benefits attributed to AEPs in the analysis do not come from physical activity in the abstract. They come from the functional, clinical and behavioural changes that physical activity produces when it is clinically prescribed, progressively adapted and properly supported.
Exercise Physiologist or Physiotherapist? A Quick Comparison
This is one of the most common questions people ask, and the honest answer is that the two professions overlap and often work together.
Broadly: a physiotherapist more commonly focuses on diagnosis and hands-on treatment of injury, pain and movement dysfunction, particularly in the acute phase. An exercise physiologist more commonly focuses on longer-term exercise prescription for chronic conditions, rehabilitation and functional capacity, often after the acute phase has settled.
Many people see both. At Proactive Health, they are frequently in the same care plan, which is the point of a multidisciplinary model.
Why Australia Needed This Report
The context the report sets out is confronting.
In 2023, Australians lost an estimated 4.4 million years of healthy life to chronic conditions, accounting for 85% of the total burden of disease. More than one in three Australian adults aged 18 to 64, over 5.7 million people, do not meet physical activity guidelines. Separately, around 73% of adults in that age group do not do adequate resistance training.
Physical inactivity is not a minor contributor to that picture. It accounts for approximately 2.5% of Australia’s total burden of disease, and was linked to $2.4 billion in health system spending in 2018-19. In 2018, physical inactivity was responsible for 20% of the total disease burden from type 2 diabetes, 17% of uterine cancer burden, 16% of coronary heart disease burden, 12% of dementia burden and 9% of stroke burden.
The policy question the report set out to answer was straightforward: if exercise is that important, what is the return on employing clinicians who specialise in prescribing it?
What the Numbers Say
Deloitte Access Economics modelled six condition groups: cardiovascular, pulmonary, musculoskeletal, mental health, physical disability and cancer. For each, it compared what happens when a person receives exercise physiology care* against a counterfactual where they receive none.
The headline results, across a three-year horizon:
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Total net economic benefit | $1.09 billion |
| Average net benefit per patient | $2,004 |
| Benefit-cost ratio | 2.5 (every $1 invested returns about $2.50) |
| Health system savings | $940 million |
| Productivity gains | $980 million |
| Quality-adjusted life years gained | 18,072 |
The benefits split roughly evenly between the health system (46%) and productivity improvements (54%). The average cost of delivering that care was estimated at approximately $1,300 per patient over three years, at a blended average of around $100 per session.
*It’s worth noting how the modelling works: the underlying evidence draws on structured, supervised exercise interventions broadly (including cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation programs), which Deloitte then applied to the population of patients receiving that care through an EP. The report itself notes the literature isn’t EP-specific, it reflects the value of clinically supervised exercise, which EPs are the primary qualified providers of.
The Hospital Numbers Are the Ones to Watch
If you have ever waited in an emergency department, or waited for a surgery date, this section will land differently.
Across the six modelled condition groups over three years, exercise physiology care was associated with:
- 60,335 avoided hospital admissions
- 38,618 avoided emergency department presentations
- 146,748 avoided emergency department hours
- 12,599 avoided surgical events
- 391,338 avoided specialist visits and 932,474 avoided GP visits
These are modelled estimates, not a count of individual events, and the report is careful to say so. But the direction is clear. Care that improves a person’s functional capacity before a crisis reduces the number of crises.
The Part Most People Miss: Work
More than half the total benefit came from productivity, not from the health system. That surprises people, and it is worth understanding why.
The productivity gains totalled $980 million, or $1,802 per patient. Of that, 69% came from reduced presenteeism: being at work but unable to function at full capacity because of pain, fatigue or symptoms. A further 17% came from reduced absenteeism, and 14% from reduced informal carer burden.
Presenteeism is the invisible cost of a chronic condition. It is the back pain that means you are at your desk but taking twice as long. It is the fatigue that means you get through the day but have nothing left afterwards.
The report also flags an area it could not fully model: workers’ compensation. Safe Work Australia data cited in the report puts the typical musculoskeletal claim at approximately 12.9 working weeks off, at a median cost of $26,700 per claim. Exercise physiology has the capacity to reduce both the incidence and the duration of those claims, and the report notes this benefit sits outside the modelled figures.
What It Means Condition by Condition
Every one of the six condition groups modelled returned a positive result. Here is how they compared.
A note on the figures below: all are modelled estimates drawn from the Deloitte analysis, including the patient and session volumes, which were built from ESSA workforce survey data rather than counted from administrative records.
Musculoskeletal Conditions
Net benefit: $543.2 million | Per patient: $2,113 | Benefit-cost ratio: 2.6
Musculoskeletal conditions are the largest part of exercise physiology practice by volume, accounting for an estimated 2.5 million sessions and around 257,000 patients each year. This group covers arthritis, osteoporosis, chronic pain, spinal cord injury, and fracture prevention and reconditioning.
It also delivered the largest single share of avoided health system events: 27,285 avoided hospitalisations, 686,180 avoided GP visits and $551 million in health system savings.
If you live with persistent back pain or osteoarthritis, this is the evidence base behind structured programs like Got Your Back and Stand Strong.
Cancer
Net benefit: $59.4 million | Per patient: $2,609 | Benefit-cost ratio: 3.0
Cancer returned the highest benefit per patient and the highest benefit-cost ratio of any group in the analysis, despite being one of the smaller groups by volume at around 22,800 patients annually.
Exercise physiology in oncology typically focuses on managing cancer-related fatigue, maintaining strength and aerobic capacity during treatment, and rebuilding function afterwards. Programs are adapted around treatment cycles and symptom fluctuation rather than run to a fixed schedule.
Cardiovascular Conditions
Net benefit: $152.7 million | Per patient: $1,937 | Benefit-cost ratio: 2.5
Covering coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, hypertension, dyslipidaemia and stroke, this group accounted for an estimated 789,000 sessions and around 79,000 patients annually, with 5,330 avoided hospitalisations and $176 million in health system savings.
Mental Health Conditions
Net benefit: $168.9 million | Per patient: $1,970 | Benefit-cost ratio: 2.5
Mental health produced the highest productivity gain per patient of any group at $2,876, driven almost entirely by reduced presenteeism (88%). It also accounted for 294,578 avoided specialist and outpatient visits.
Exercise physiology in this space is not positioned as a replacement for psychological care. The report’s own case example describes exercise working alongside a psychologist and GP as a practical tool for recovery, routine and self-management. For veterans, this is the thinking behind connection-focused programs like Keep Connected.
Physical Disability
Net benefit: $144.5 million | Per patient: $1,647 | Benefit-cost ratio: 2.3
Around 88,000 patients annually, with an estimated 16,864 avoided hospitalisations. This group had the highest informal carer burden component of any condition at 50% of its productivity benefit, which reflects something families know well: when a person’s functional capacity improves, the load on the people around them lightens too.
The report notes that improved function may also reduce the need for NDIS-funded daily living support hours, a benefit it did not attempt to quantify.
Pulmonary Conditions
Net benefit: $21.0 million | Per patient: $1,815 | Benefit-cost ratio: 2.4
The smallest group by volume at around 11,600 patients, reflecting the more specialised referral pathway into pulmonary rehabilitation. Conditions include asthma, COPD, emphysema and cystic fibrosis.
The Finding That Should Change the Conversation
Here is the number the report returns to at the end, and it is arguably more important than the $1.09 billion.
Fewer than 5% of the population living with these six condition groups currently accesses exercise physiology services.
Not 50%. Fewer than 5%. The rate varies by condition, and it is lowest of all in pulmonary conditions, but the overall picture is the same across the board.
There are 9,870 exercise physiologists in Australia as at June 2026, of whom 8,687 work in clinical roles. Between them they are estimated to see approximately 940,000 patients a year. The six conditions modelled account for about 46% of that caseload, which is why the report describes its own findings as conservative.
The report modelled what would happen if access expanded:
- Each 10% increase in utilisation would generate an additional $109 million in net economic benefit
- Each additional exercise physiologist in the workforce contributes an estimated $476,654 per year
- Every 1,000 additional patients treated yields approximately $2.0 million in net benefit
The gap is not evidence. The gap is awareness and access. The report’s own recommendations name it directly: increase awareness of exercise physiology among policymakers, employers and the broader community, because “awareness of the scope of AEP practice and the evidence supporting exercise-based interventions may remain variable across parts of the health system and wider community”.
Translated: a lot of people who would benefit from seeing an exercise physiologist do not know the profession exists, or assume it is not for them.
Who Is Actually Eligible?
This is where most articles about health reports stop being useful. So, specifically.
Exercise physiology is relevant across a much broader range of conditions than the six that were modelled. ESSA’s scope of practice covers cardiovascular, metabolic (including type 2 diabetes, obesity and insulin resistance), respiratory, musculoskeletal, neurological (including acquired brain injury, Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis) and mental health conditions, alongside age-related functional decline, women’s health conditions, cancer, injury and post-surgical rehabilitation, disability-related functional impairment, chronic pain and fatigue conditions, and solid organ transplant rehabilitation.
The patient profile from the report may also surprise you. Around 52% of exercise physiology patients are working-age adults aged 18 to 64. Another 38% are aged 65 and over, and roughly 10% are children and young people.
In other words: this is not a service only for the elderly, and it is not a service only for the very unwell.
How to Access Exercise Physiology in Australia
There are more pathways than most people realise, and several do not require you to be referred by anyone.
Medicare (Chronic Disease Management) Your GP can refer you under a GP Chronic Condition Management Plan, which provides a set number of subsidised allied health visits per calendar year. This single plan replaced the former GP Management Plan and Team Care Arrangements. Ask your GP whether you are eligible.
DVA (Department of Veterans’ Affairs) Veterans with a Gold or White Card can access exercise physiology with a GP or specialist referral under DVA treatment arrangements.
NDIS Where exercise physiology relates to capacity building and disability supports in an approved plan, it can be funded for plan-managed and self-managed participants.
Support at Home (aged care) Exercise physiology can be delivered through aged care packages, with assessment via My Aged Care. This can be commenced by an individual or a medical professional.
Workers’ compensation and motor accident schemes Access is usually arranged through your insurer or case manager as part of a return-to-work or rehabilitation plan.
Private health insurance and self-referral Most major funds provide extras rebates for exercise physiology. You do not need a GP referral to book privately.
Full detail on each pathway is on our funding and rebates page.
What This Means Practically
Three things worth taking from a 59-page economic report.
One: the evidence for clinical exercise is now economic, not just clinical. Exercise physiology has had good clinical evidence for years. What it lacked was a defensible national figure for what that clinical benefit is worth. It now has one, produced by Deloitte Access Economics and co-designed with a project advisory group of practising exercise physiologists and researchers.
Two: the benefit is measured in function, not fitness. The outcomes that generated the value were things like returning to work, avoiding a hospital admission, managing pain well enough to get through a day, needing less help from a family member, and staying independent at home. Nobody in this analysis got value from getting fitter for its own sake.
Three: access, not evidence, is the bottleneck. Fewer than one in twenty people living with these conditions currently sees an exercise physiologist. If you have a chronic condition, an injury or a disability and have never been offered exercise physiology, it is worth asking your GP whether it is appropriate for you. That is the most actionable finding in the report.
Speak to an Exercise Physiologist at Proactive Health
Proactive Health’s exercise physiologists work across more than 350 locations nationally, as part of multidisciplinary teams that include physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dietetics, podiatry, hydrotherapy and social work. That means your exercise program is coordinated with the rest of your care rather than running alongside it.
We accept NDIS, DVA, Home Care and Support at Home, Medicare care plans, private health insurance and workers’ compensation referrals, and you can self-refer for privately funded appointments.
Call 1300 890 507, find your nearest clinic, or book an appointment online.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between an exercise physiologist and a personal trainer?
An Accredited Exercise Physiologist holds a university qualification in clinical exercise prescription and is accredited by Exercise & Sports Science Australia. They are trained to assess and prescribe exercise for people with chronic and complex medical conditions, injuries and disabilities, and can bill through Medicare, DVA and NDIS. Personal trainers hold a vocational qualification and work with generally healthy populations.
Is exercise physiology covered by Medicare?
It can be. If your GP determines you are eligible for a chronic condition management plan, you can receive a set number of subsidised allied health visits per calendar year. Speak with your GP about whether a GP Chronic Condition Management Plan is appropriate for you.
Does the NDIS fund exercise physiology?
Yes, where exercise physiology relates to capacity building or disability supports within an approved NDIS plan. It is available to plan-managed and self-managed participants.
Do I need a referral to see an exercise physiologist?
Not for privately funded or private health insurance appointments, where you can self-refer. A GP or specialist referral is required for Medicare chronic disease management plans and for DVA-funded care.
What conditions do exercise physiologists treat?
Exercise physiologists work across cardiovascular, metabolic, respiratory, musculoskeletal, neurological and mental health conditions, as well as cancer, chronic pain, disability-related functional impairment, injury and post-surgical rehabilitation, women’s health conditions, and age-related functional decline.
How many sessions will I need?
This depends entirely on your condition, goals and funding pathway, and is determined at assessment. This is determined on an individual basis between the patient and their EP, based on factors including personal preference, progress, safety exercising independently, and funding available for sessions.
Source
Deloitte Access Economics (2026), Valuing the contribution of Exercise Physiologists in Australia: An economic perspective, commissioned by Exercise & Sports Science Australia. Published August 2026. Available at essa.org.au.
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