Home physiotherapy charges: $900–$2,000 an hour, where the surcharges are, and why the District Health Centre's $380 and the Hospital Authority's $100 each come with a gate

Updated: 2026-08-31

The Consumer Council's survey published on 15 November 2024 (conducted September to October 2024, covering 15 non-government-subsidised organisations) found home visits by physiotherapists and occupational therapists at $900 to $2,000 an hour, and registered nurses at $830 to $1,500 an hour. ⚠️ What really breaks a budget is not the base fee but the surcharges: all 15 require advance notice of cancellation; where notice is short, most charge a surcharge of $200 to $1,000, and the rest instead charge transport costs, a minimum service fee, a same-day service fee or double the service fee; 11 charge double on New Year's Day, Lunar New Year, Christmas and the winter solstice; 9 charge 1.5 times to double plus taxi fare when a No. 8 typhoon signal or black rainstorm warning is in force. What about the public and subsidised routes? ⚠️ Note first: these are not home visits, and not something you can simply book yourself. The co-payment schedule the government announced on 20 March 2025: for District Health Centre members referred by a family doctor, physiotherapist (rehabilitation and treatment) $380 per attendance, occupational therapist $150, dedicated nurse clinic $80; for participants in the Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme, physiotherapist (health education and consultation) $150 per attendance. The Hospital Authority's community allied health service is $100 per attendance for eligible persons — ⚠️ but the Authority's fee page prints no access conditions, and the only description this article could open is a 2019 newsletter from one cluster, which is not a territory-wide rule. ⚠️ One more thing: 9 of the 15 require a doctor's referral for physiotherapy, occupational therapy or rehabilitation therapy — and the District Health Centre also states that "apart from Chinese medicine, standalone allied health services require a family doctor's referral". This article sets out the charges and terms each party publishes. It does not compare service quality, recommends no organisation, and offers no medical advice.

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#First, what the survey covers and what it does not

It covers non-government-subsidised private and self-financing organisations, not the whole market.

From the Consumer Council's press release: "in September to October this year, the Council collected charges and terms from the official websites of 15 non-government-subsidised organisations providing home rehabilitation and care services — 8 private agencies and 7 self-financing organisations or service units — and 13 had replied by the time of writing." The press release is dated 15 November 2024, so "this year" means 2024.

So the denominator for every figure below is those 15 organisations (or the specified number among them), not every organisation in Hong Kong providing home services.

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#What does a private home visit cost?

⚠️ Where does the "1.8 times" for speech therapy come from? The Council's wording: "5 charge $900 to $2,000 an hour; another 4 charge by 50-minute session, at $500 to $1,400 a session, the two differing by up to 1.8 times at most" — a comparison across two different charging bases, not "hourly charges differ by 1.8 times" and not "per-session charges differ by 1.8 times".

Four have a minimum duration. The Council: "4 require a minimum of 2 hours per visit" — so even if you need only 45 minutes, you still pay for the full minimum period.

Nursing: longer bookings can lower the hourly average, but it depends which charging model is used. The Council: for a registered nurse for 4 hours, "8 organisations with duration-banded pricing charge $1,320 to $1,470; 4 with a flat hourly rate charge $3,520 to $6,000 for 4 hours". ⚠️ The two sets are not comparable side by side — the first is banded pricing, the second a flat hourly rate × 4.

Where does the "$134" for a health worker come from? The Council's wording: "taking 1 organisation as an example, a health worker costs $300 for 1 hour, and about $134 an hour on average at 8 hours." ⚠️ That is one organisation's duration curve, not a range across organisations.

Packages likewise need to be read for which kind of package they are. The Council: 3 offer packages; "1 home care organisation's 20-hour package costs $3,040 to $3,800, averaging $152 to $190 an hour"; "the other 2, offering physiotherapist or occupational therapist home visits, charge $3,840 to $14,000, with differing contents and numbers of sessions". And — "they carry expiry periods, from as long as 4 months to as short as 30 days".

Who most needs to know this: anyone who sees "a hundred-odd dollars an hour on a package" and assumes physiotherapy costs that — that average comes from one home care organisation's package of personal care worker or health worker hours, not a therapist.

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#What really breaks the budget: the surcharges

The base fee is only the starting point. The Council lists six categories of surcharge.

Three easy traps:

One: the notice period for cancellation varies widely. The Council: "2 are more lenient, allowing notice up to 4 hours before the appointment; but 1 home — the strictest — requires notice 7 working days ahead."

Two: a sick note may not save you. The Council: "only 2 said a sick note or admission slip allows the service to be made up on another day without a surcharge, and even then not if staff have already arrived."

Three: "remote area" has no common definition. The Council states: "organisations define "remote area" differently; ask before confirming the service."

Separately, 12 require booking "at least 1 day to 2 weeks in advance" — so a phone call today does not mean someone at your door tomorrow.

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#What does the same group of services cost inside the subsidised system?

Two public/subsidised routes, at a completely different order of price.

⚠️ In one line: $150 is no longer the charge for physiotherapy at a District Health Centre.

What applies is the co-payment schedule effective 15 April 2025. The Health Bureau announced on 20 March 2025 that from that date District Health Centres would add dedicated nurse clinic, allied health and Chinese medicine services for members not enrolled in the Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme, at over 20 additional service points across Hong Kong. Table 1 of the annex sets out the co-payments for DHC members: dedicated nurse clinic $80, occupational therapist $150, Chinese medicine practitioner $150, physiotherapist (rehabilitation and treatment) $380, speech therapist $380, dietitian $380. The second table sets out the co-payments for Chronic Disease Co-Care participants: dedicated nurse clinic $80, physiotherapist (health education and consultation) $150, optometrist $150, dietitian $380, podiatrist $380. The Eastern District Health Centre's fee page (updated 5 March 2026) prints the same set of figures.

From when does this schedule apply? The government's announcement of 20 March 2025 states: "from 15 April, District Health Centres will also add dedicated nurse clinic and allied health services… members receiving them will do so on a co-payment model" — so the current co-payments took effect on 15 April 2025.

⚠️ Why is the "$150 cap" still quoted around? The District Health Centre's "for the public" page once carried an FAQ stating that for physiotherapy and other services "the patient's out-of-pocket cap is HK$150". That text no longer displays on the page — when this article examined it on 31 August 2026, the passage survived only as a comment in the page source and was not visible to a reader. ⚠️ No official notice specifically withdrawing that older text was found; what can be established is that the co-payment schedule above took effect on 15 April 2025. So there is no such thing as "two official figures running in parallel": what applies is the schedule above.

How to tell the two figures apart: for a DHC member referred by a family doctor for physiotherapy rehabilitation and treatment, it is $380; $150 is health education and consultation under the Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme, a different service. ⚠️ Budgeting on $150 may fall short. Before enrolling, ask directly: "which service category is this attendance, and what is the co-payment?"

"For people referred by the Hospital Authority to the community rehabilitation programme, the charge per session is set at HK$100" uses the wording "set at" — a fixed price.

⚠️ The subsidy is not unlimited. From the same page: "each scheme caps the number of subsidised attendances"; "beyond the cap, the person pays the full cost".

Which things are free? District Health Centre "membership registration is free of charge". As for services, the Eastern District Health Centre's fee page (which prints an update date of 5 March 2026) lists health talks and group activities, health risk assessment (first assessment), pharmacist consultation and social worker consultation as free, with the dedicated nurse clinic at an $80 co-payment per attendance. Both tables in the schedule effective 15 April 2025 likewise print "dedicated nurse clinic $80".

⚠️ So "all nursing services are free" is an impression that needs correcting. The District Health Centre website once carried an FAQ stating "all group activities, and individual services provided by nurses, pharmacists and social workers at a District Health Centre, are free", but that passage no longer displays on the page either (like the one above, it survives only as a comment in the source). The current schedule prints: the dedicated nurse clinic charges $80.

Can Elderly Health Care Vouchers be used? Yes — "an elderly person enrolled in the voucher scheme may pay District Health Centre scheme service fees from the voucher account".

Who can join a District Health Centre? A holder of a Hong Kong identity card or a Certificate of Exemption (with some exceptions), or a Hong Kong resident child under 11; who consents to join the Electronic Health Record Sharing System; and who "lives or works in the district of the District Health Centre".

⚠️ One sentence to remember: these two routes are not a cheaper version of a home visit.

• District Health Centre: the Primary Healthcare Commission's material states that a referred participant receives the service at a District Health Centre (where applicable) or a designated network service point — meaning you go to the centre or service point; the therapist does not come to your home.
• Hospital Authority community allied health service: the $100 per attendance is a line in a fee table, and does not mean that any eligible person can book a home visit. ⚠️ The Hospital Authority's fee table sets out no access conditions for this service. The only concrete description this article could open is a May 2019 cluster newsletter (Issue 104) from the Hospital Authority's New Territories East Cluster, describing that cluster's community outreach allied health service, whose users include referred discharged patients who cannot return to hospital for follow-up because of mobility or environmental barriers, and residential home visits. ⚠️ That is one cluster's description in 2019, and cannot be treated as a rule common to all seven clusters today; ask your own cluster about the actual arrangements.
• Private home services: the Council's $900–$2,000 is a home visit price, including the therapist coming to you.

Who most needs to know this: families waiting for a subsidised government service and planning to pay privately in the meantime — the two sides' prices are not comparing the same thing (one comes to you, one you travel to). Ask first whether you are eligible, and where the service is delivered.

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#Is a doctor's referral needed?

More than half of the private organisations require one, and the subsidised route states it is required (except Chinese medicine).

Private: the Council found that of the 15, "9 require a doctor's referral for physiotherapy, occupational therapy or rehabilitation therapy".

District Health Centre: "Q7: does joining District Health Centre services require a doctor's referral? A7: apart from Chinese medicine services, standalone allied health services require a family doctor's referral."

So what is "physiotherapy without referral"? Chapter 13 of the Physiotherapists Board's Code of Practice (December 2025 revision) is explicit:

• 13.1 (the general position): "generally, a patient diagnosed or treated by a physiotherapist should be referred by a medical practitioner, a registered Chinese medicine practitioner, or a registered person of a clinic exempted under section 8(1) of the Clinics Ordinance, Cap. 343, or be a patient already under their direct care."
• 13.2 (the without-referral situation): "where a patient, without a referral letter from a registered medical practitioner or registered Chinese medicine practitioner, receives assessment and subsequent treatment under sections 6(2)(a), (b) and/or (c) of the Physiotherapists (Registration and Disciplinary Procedure) Regulation, Cap. 359J, having given informed consent, a "first contact physiotherapist–patient relationship" is established." The same provision adds that when providing services under 6(2)(b) and/or (c), the physiotherapist "should read carefully and comply with the latest clinical guidelines issued by reference bodies".
• 12.3 (the therapist must be trained first): a physiotherapist must "complete a relevant course recognised by the Board before providing physiotherapy services under sections 6(2)(a), 6(2)(b) and/or 6(2)(c)".
• 13.4: "in no circumstances should a physiotherapist claim that their training, experience or other skills enable them to provide treatment independently."

⚠️ This article does not set out the conditions of each route. The Code cites sections 6(2)(a), (b) and (c), but does not print what each requires; the Regulation itself would not open on 30 August 2026 (Hong Kong e-Legislation displayed only a loading placeholder). Nor does this article state how many without-referral routes there are — the Code names three provisions, but does not say those three are all of them.

How do you check registration? The Council cautions that "some agencies refer therapists or care staff who are not their employees", and advises checking registration through the websites of bodies such as "the Supplementary Medical Professions Council and the Nursing Council of Hong Kong". The Primary Healthcare Commission's Primary Care Directory advanced search also has a filter for "first contact physiotherapy service".

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#Ask about these

Before booking a home visit, go through each of these and ask for a written quotation (one of the Council's own recommendations is to obtain a detailed quotation):

1. Is the person coming a registered physiotherapist, or an assistant? The charges and scope differ (assistants $250–$800 or $310–$610; therapists $900–$2,000).
2. Is the person your employee? The Council notes that some agencies refer people who are not their employees; you can check registration on the councils' websites yourself.
3. Is there a minimum duration? 4 of the 15 require at least 2 hours per visit.
4. How do you charge for public holidays, night-time, remote areas and severe weather? 11 charge double on holidays; 9 charge 1.5 times to double plus taxi fare in severe weather.
5. How much notice is needed to cancel, and what happens if it is short? Notice periods run from 4 hours to 7 working days; where notice is short, most charge a surcharge of $200 to $1,000 and the rest instead charge transport, a minimum service fee, a same-day service fee or double the fee.
6. If buying a package: how long is it valid, how many sessions, and what is included? Expiry runs from 30 days to 4 months.
7. Is a referral letter needed? 9 of the 15 require one; the District Health Centre also states that allied health services require a family doctor's referral (except Chinese medicine).

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#Frequently asked questions

• Roughly what does home physiotherapy cost per hour? In the Consumer Council's survey of 15 non-government-subsidised organisations in September to October 2024, physiotherapists and occupational therapists charged $900 to $2,000 an hour.
• Why are some quotations much lower? The visit may be by a physiotherapy or occupational therapy assistant rather than a therapist: 3 organisations have a 1-hour minimum at $250 to $800, and 7 charge from 2 hours per visit at $310 to $610.
• Is there an extra charge in severe weather? In the Council's survey, when a No. 8 or higher tropical cyclone signal or a black rainstorm warning is in force, 9 charge 1.5 times to double the service fee and may add $100 up to the full taxi fare, 2 suspend service, and only 1 said it would not add a charge.
• What is the penalty for cancelling? "Advance notice required" applies to all 15. As to penalties, the Council's wording is that where notice is not given, most charge a surcharge of $200 to $1,000, and some instead charge the worker's transport costs, the minimum service fee for the booked service, the same-day service fee, or double the service fee. Only 2 said a sick note or admission slip allows rescheduling without a surcharge, and even then not if staff have already arrived.
• Is physiotherapy at a District Health Centre $150? No. The co-payment schedule announced by the Health Bureau on 20 March 2025 and effective 15 April 2025 sets out: for DHC members, physiotherapist (rehabilitation and treatment) $380 per attendance; for Chronic Disease Co-Care participants, physiotherapist (health education and consultation) $150 per attendance. The District Health Centre website once carried an FAQ stating an out-of-pocket cap of HK$150, but that passage no longer displays on the page. Confirm with the centre which category of service applies to you before enrolling.
• Is the District Health Centre subsidy capped, and are these charges a cheap alternative to a home visit? The subsidy is capped: the centre states that each scheme caps the number of subsidised attendances, and that beyond the cap the person pays the full cost. As to whether it is a cheap substitute — it is not the same service: the Primary Healthcare Commission's material states that after referral the service is received at a District Health Centre or a designated network service point. As for the Hospital Authority, this article can cite only the New Territories East Cluster's May 2019 newsletter describing that cluster's community outreach allied health service (users include referred discharged patients who cannot return to hospital because of mobility or environmental barriers), which is not a territory-wide rule. The Council's $900–$2,000 is a home visit price.
• Does physiotherapy always require a doctor's referral? In the private sector, 9 of the 15 organisations surveyed require one. At District Health Centres, standalone allied health services require a family doctor's referral except Chinese medicine. As for going without a referral, the Physiotherapists Board's Code of Practice (December 2025 revision) explains that a patient may receive assessment and treatment without a referral letter from a doctor or registered Chinese medicine practitioner, under sections 6(2)(a), (b) and/or (c) of the Physiotherapists (Registration and Disciplinary Procedure) Regulation (Cap. 359J), having given informed consent. This article does not set out the specific conditions of each provision.
• How do I check whether the person visiting is registered? The Council recommends checking registration through the websites of bodies such as the Supplementary Medical Professions Council and the Nursing Council of Hong Kong, and cautions that some agencies refer people who are not their employees.

Also in this series:

• How physiotherapists, chiropractors and doctors divide the work, and the without-referral routes: “How do physiotherapists, chiropractors and doctors divide the work? A full breakdown of the lines drawn by three ordinances, four without-referral routes, and the registers you can check before booking 2026”
• When back pain needs an MRI: “When does back pain need an MRI? Red flag symptoms, where '80% of people will have it in their lifetime' comes from, and the new without-referral physiotherapy rules”
• What else is available while waiting: “Public waits are too long — what else is there? Nine public-private partnership programmes, the limits of the voucher, and the triage rules”

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#What this article does not claim

• It does not treat text no longer displayed on the District Health Centre website as current charges. That page once carried two FAQ passages — the HK$150 out-of-pocket cap, and "individual services provided by nurses… are free"; when this article examined the page on 31 August 2026, both survived only as comments in the source and did not display. The article quotes them to explain why those figures are still in circulation; the charges themselves are taken only from the current co-payment schedule and each centre's own printed fee page.
• It does not treat public or subsidised charges as a substitute price for a home visit. The District Health Centre is centre-based or network-service-point-based; the Council's figures are home visit prices.
• It does not state the territory-wide access conditions for the Hospital Authority's community allied health service. The Authority's fee table prints none; the article cites only the New Territories East Cluster's May 2019 newsletter description of that cluster's service, and says so.
• It cites no specific cap on the number of subsidised District Health Centre attendances. The official page states only that a cap exists and that staff may be asked.
• It names, compares and recommends no organisation, and does not compare service quality. The Council's survey is expressed in numbers of organisations, and this article follows suit.
• It does not treat the survey results as the position of the whole market. The survey covered 15 non-government-subsidised organisations (8 private agencies, 7 self-financing organisations or service units), of which 13 replied; subsidised organisations and government services are outside it.
• It does not present "$134 to $300" as a range across organisations. Both figures come from the same organisation in the Council's example (a health worker at $300 for 1 hour, averaging about $134 an hour at 8 hours).
• It does not present "an average of $152 to $190 an hour" as the price of packages generally. That is one home care organisation's 20-hour package; the other 2 therapist home visit packages cost $3,840 to $14,000.
• It does not state how many without-referral physiotherapy routes exist. The Physiotherapists Board's Code of Practice names sections 6(2)(a), (b) and (c) of Cap. 359J, but does not say those three are all of them; the Regulation itself would not open on 30 August 2026. ⚠️ Another existing article on this site refers in its title to "four without-referral routes"; the two counts are inconsistent and remain to be reconciled against the text of the Regulation.
• It cites no specific conditions for any without-referral route. The 34-page Code prints no "12 months", "10 sessions" or "30 days"; nor does the article use the related conditions circulating informally.
• It cites no number of registered physiotherapists. The Supplementary Medical Professions Council's register statistics page would not open on 30 August 2026.
• It cites no number of organisations providing "first contact physiotherapy service". The Primary Care Directory has such a filter, but no search was submitted, so no count can be cited.
• It does not present "$200 to $1,000" as applying to all 15. The Council's wording is that all 15 require advance notice; where notice is not given, most charge a surcharge in that range and some use another basis.
• It offers no medical advice and does not judge whether you need physiotherapy or how many sessions. All charges and terms are quoted, with their source, denominator and the date the document itself prints; clinical need is for a doctor or therapist to assess.

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Provenance: compiled from a statutory body's survey, subsidised scheme charges and a professional code; every figure is marked with its source, its denominator and the date the document itself prints.

Quotations from Chinese-language official documents and press materials appear in our own English translation; the original wording governs.

#資料來源 (Sources)

• Consumer Council press release, survey of home rehabilitation and care services (CHOICE issue 577), 15 November 2024: https://www.consumer.org.hk/tc/press-release/p-577-home-rehabilitation-service (retrieved 2026-08-30)
• District Health Centre, "for the public" page (FAQ) (page carries no date of its own): https://www.dhc.gov.hk/tc/general_public.html (retrieved 2026-08-30)
• Health Bureau, press release “Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme extended to blood lipid testing and District Health Centres enhance allied health services” and its annex of co-payments (press release prints 20 March 2025; services from 15 April 2025): https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202503/20/P2025032000216.htm (retrieved 2026-08-31)
• Eastern District Health Centre, "Service Charges" (page prints an update date of 5 March 2026): https://www.eastdhc.org.hk/tc/content.php?wid=85 (retrieved 2026-08-31)
• Primary Healthcare Commission, Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme participant resources page (page carries no date of its own): https://www.primaryhealthcare.gov.hk/cdcc/tc/gp/resources.html (retrieved 2026-08-31)
• Hospital Authority New Territories East Cluster, cluster newsletter (document prints "May 2019｜五月號｜Issue 104"): https://www3.ha.org.hk/ntec/media/nteceast/pdf/104.pdf (retrieved 2026-08-31)
• Hospital Authority, "Fees and Charges" (charges effective from 2026-01-01): https://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_view_content.asp?Content_ID=10045&Lang=CHIB5&Dimension=100&Ver=HTML (retrieved 2026-08-30)
• Physiotherapists Board, Code of Practice (December 2025 revision): https://www.smp-council.org.hk/pt/file/pdf/CoP_for_PT_c_dec2025.pdf; parent page: https://www.smp-council.org.hk/pt/tc/content.php?page=cd_cp (retrieved 2026-08-30)
• Primary Healthcare Commission, Primary Care Directory advanced search (physiotherapists) (page carries no date of its own): https://apps.pcdirectory.gov.hk/Public/TC/AdvancedSearch?ProfID=RPT (retrieved 2026-08-30)

Compiled by the editorial team from a statutory body's survey, subsidised scheme announcements and a professional code; every figure is attributed to its source. This is health information, not medical advice.