Value of Accredited Exercise Physiologists in Australia
A high return on investment
Deloitte Access Economics has estimated the benefits of employing accredited exercise physiologists from the perspective of society as a whole and from the perspective of Australian consumers.
In 2015, Exercise & Sports Science Australia (ESSA) engaged Deloitte Access Economics to quantify the value of accredited exercise physiologists in Australia from the perspective of society as a whole (Deloitte Access Economics, 2015).
In 2016, ESSA engaged Deloitte Access Economics to estimate the value of accredited exercise physiologists from the perspective of consumers in Australia. This is important given the nature of ongoing health reforms, which are increasingly being aimed at consumer directed care models.
The value of accredited physiologists in Australia
This report estimates the benefits of employing accredited exercise physiologists to manage three particular groups of chronic conditions:
- Type 2 diabetes (including pre-diabetes)
- Mental illness (including physical comorbidities)
- Cardiovascular and other chronic diseases managed in community settings.
The report found benefits in terms of reduced health system costs, reduced productivity losses and wellbeing gains from lifestyle interventions delivered by accredited exercise physiologists for individuals living with type 2 diabetes, depression, chronic heart failure and other chronic diseases.
The value of accredited exercise physiologists to consumers in Australia
This report estimates the value of accredited exercise physiologists from the perspective of consumers in Australia. This is important given the nature of ongoing health reforms, which are increasingly being aimed at consumer directed care models that will enable consumers to directly engage the services of health professionals, including accredited exercise physiologists. Consumer directed care models can reduce health expenditure and result in improved health outcomes.
The report finds that accredited exercise physiologists would deliver large benefits from the consumer’s perspective for depression, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. On average, it was estimated that for every $1 a consumer spends engaging the services of an accredited exercise physiologist, they could receive benefits of $10.50 in terms of improved wellbeing, improved productivity and reduced out of pocket health system expenditure.
