This issue has been troubling me from the day i started my career as a physio and still it does.
At first, i want to give you a picture of physiotherapy fees here in Greece, which are totally unaffected by the current economic recession, at least until the time i write this post. All major health insurance funds (supported by the state, as private insurance policies are not well-promoted in Greece) pay an unreasonably low fee for physio sessions (on the presumption that it is prescribed by a physician), namely 7-12 euros most of the times,as the price ranges depending what kinds of treatment is prescribed (for example electrotherapy or massage, kinesiotherapy or laser and so on).
In case a patient wants to receive a "private" session, namely there is no cover by health funds the median fees are 20-40 euros (most of the times it is 25 or 30 euros) again depending on each practicioner individually.
Perhaps the above figure (20-40) could be seem fair enough for our job but i firmly believe it is not for a couple of reasons. First, a normal session lasts at least 45 minutes, reaching 1 hour and something in some instances and the physical and mental requirements for a physiotherapist are quite high. Many people dont understand the PREPARATION (study and literature review for each clinical case) we have to make prior to any clinical session, so here in Greece public doesnt consider the amount of 20-40 euros a small one. They think, you just move a joint, make a massage and nothing more!

My point is if we are going to increase ,and demand such an increase, our fees, not only in my country, but in other countries where the same happens, we have to promote to the public the value of our job not only in terms of "taking the pain away for a short time" but of its scientific value, and believe me most of the public in Greece dont see physiotherapy as science, as opposed to the medicine. Thats why physicians/surgeons charge a lot more, even if in some cases a doctor consultation last 10 minutes max and the patient pays 100 euros!
Perhaps we should become more "pushy" towards our patients, demanding higher fees, on the presumption that we can give to them EXCELLENT service. In my view this attitude will certainly raise our profile, because we will give REASONS to a patient why he MUST pay a higher amount of money. Ultimately, this will give us more respect among the public.


I would like to hear many colleagues' opinion on that issue and especially what is the economic status for physios in other countries worldwide.

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