In a move that appears contrary to the public health message about the benefits of sport and exercise, the Minister for Health and Ageing, and Medicare Australia has abolished Medicare item numbers for Sports and Exercise physicians from 1 November 2010.

The rebate for seeing a sports and exercise physician will be cut by 33-50% due to their reclassification as procedural specialists rather than the more appropriate consultation-based care offered by consultant physicians.

All patients seeing sports and exercise physicians will need a medical referral or face an even greater reduction in the rebate they receive.

Leading Australian sports physician, Dr Peter Brukner has been appointed Head of Sports Medicine and Sports Science at the Liverpool Football Club.

Dr Brukner is the current Socceroos team doctor and a founding partner at Australia’s largest sports medicine clinic, the Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre in Melbourne.

The appointment followed a global search by Liverpool and shows that Australian sports medicine is held in high regard.

“This is an exciting challenge,” Dr Brukner said. “I will be visiting Liverpool over the next few weeks and learning more about the club, prior to returning to Australia then traveling to South Africa with the Socceroos for the World Cup,”

Melbourne Rectangular Stadium

We have moved ...

Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre is pleased to announce that we have relocated to AAMI Park (Melbourne Rectangular Stadium) ...just 300 metres away from our old clinic!