Aus Active has unveiled its 2025-27 Strategic Plan, positioning the exercise and active health sector as a vital contributor to Australia’s overall health and wellbeing.

CEO, of the trade association, Barrie Elvish, says this new plan provides a strong roadmap for success: “Now is the time to position the exercise and active health industry as a cornerstone of Australia’s preventative health system. Our strategic plan sets the course for greater government recognition, stronger industry standards and enhanced support for our members.”

The three pillars of the 2025-27 Strategic Plan are effective advocacy, fostering professional credibility – through updated registration frameworks, guidelines and education initiatives – and delivering support to an engaged membership, including fostering partnerships and increasing industry recognition.

To this end, Aus Active is currently working closely with Private Healthcare Australia (PHA) to lead reform in private health insurance, with the goal of expanding access to evidence-based preventive health services, including Pilates, yoga, tai chi and structured exercise programmes delivered by accredited professionals. This collaboration comes in the wake of recent legislative changes that allow private health insurers to offer rebates for select natural therapies.

Briefing notes from Private Healthcare Australia

Health funds have welcomed a legislative change on 1 July 2025 that will allow rebates to be paid for a range of natural therapies clinical treatments.

Private health insurers are working with industry associations to create accreditation, claims and other required processes to support the change. With the assistance of professional associations, these processes are expected to be in place in early 2026.

The legislative change allows health funds in Australia to provide rebates for health treatments incorporating Yoga, Pilates, Tai chi, Shiatsu, Naturopathy, Western herbal medicine and the Alexander Technique, should funds decide to cover them.

The therapies can only be covered for the treatment of health conditions or under a health management programme rather than just for fitness.

The treatments were among 16 natural therapies excluded from private health insurance benefits by the previous Australian government in 2019. But an independent review of their effectiveness, completed in 2024, was satisfied there was enough evidence that seven of the 16 were likely to be clinically effective, so they were recommended for re-inclusion under health fund rules.

The most important step is ensuring providers meet credentialing requirements in the absence of existing regulatory frameworks. For example, anyone can call themselves a yoga teacher without having formal qualifications, so professional associations will need to develop accreditation processes that health funds can use to assure provider training, safety and continuing education.

Guidelines also need to be developed around regulatory obligations, such as referral pathways and ensuring the services meet the definition of treatment in the legislation. An industry schedule of items will be developed to ensure recognised providers meet the health fund rules and to outline how health fund members can claim rebates.

Private Healthcare Australia CEO Dr Rachel David said health insurers had lobbied the Government for years to allow health funds to decide whether they wanted to cover natural therapies.

“Since 2019, we have been arguing the funding of natural therapies should be left to the discretion of health funds given health insurers are capable of assessing the evidence and determining the market value of these therapies for their customers,” Dr David said. “We are pleased the Government has returned seven natural therapies to the list of treatments health funds can subsidise.

“We are working proactively with professional associations to create a proper framework around how these treatments can be provided and rebated and are looking forward to continuing this work to ensure professional associations provide the necessary accreditation processes for providers.”

She said once the required measures were in place, it would be up to each health fund to decide whether it would cover the treatments.

Original here.