Physiotherapists and Accredited Exercise Physiologists wishing to provide the GLA:D^® Australia Program must:

• attend one of the GLA:D^® Australia courses, and
• complete certification following training.
• maintain certification thereafter.

Only clinicians who hold current certification can provide the GLA:D^® Australia Program.  

• Currently, we know there is large variation in the quality of care provided by experienced and inexperienced clinicians.
• In fact, our research indicates that when considering experience and post-graduate training, these factors are either
  • not related to practices and knowledge (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34548210/); or
  • negatively associated (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33662892/).
• We want everyone to be on the same page, with consistent knowledge of the benefits and harms associated with various treatments for OA.
• GLA:D has become a trusted program among other health professionals (e.g. surgeons, GPs) and funders (e.g. private health insurers beginning to fund in full) – the minimum standard, including training and certification of all clinicians, is key to this.
• Allied health professionals are poor at evaluating what we do and demonstrating its value – changing this is a vital part of the training and certification, and is critical in ensuring trust of the program and effective advocacy efforts (e.g. PHI funding).

• Divide sessions into large rooms of 20-25, and then small tutorial rooms of 3-5 attendees.
• Tutors work with only 2 rooms to provide feedback and answer questions, just as would happen in a face-to-face course.
• Set you up to have structured conversations and teaching practice of exercises – everyone has the opportunity to learn and to teach.
• Make sure that the content is exactly the same as the face-to-face sessions, using skills we’ve all learned over the past couple of years.
• Support you to use technology so that you can use those options for service delivery with your clients.

The 2025 course fee will be $790 per attendee (GST free), with a $50 discount available to multiple attendees paying together in a single transaction.  This fee includes 4 years of certification, with a test to be completed at 12-months following training in order to maintain certification. NEW GRADUATES can also access the $50 discount (only one discount can be applied per attendee).

In addition, administration fees will apply for: 

• transfer of registration to another course – $77 incl GST ($70 + $7 GST)
• transfer of registration to another attendee – $55 incl GST ($50 + $5 GST)
• changes to modules within a course due to inability to attend (subject to discussion with training team) – $55 incl GST ($50 + $5 GST)
• cancellation fee – $55 incl GST ($50 + $5 GST)

Payment for training courses is taken along with registration details through the La Trobe University Xetta system.  Payment can be made via credit card or PayPal.  GLA:D^® Australia is not able to invoice for training courses.

Certification applies to all clinicians providing the program. Only clinicians holding current certification with GLA:D^® Australia are eligible to provide the program and register participants.

Ensuring clinicians are certified helps the GLA:D^® Australia team to preserve the integrity and consistency of the program, and is a critical part of our advocacy for sustainable funding models for participants.  Certification consists of a test on the completion of training, and is valid for 12 months post-training.  At this time, certified clinicians are offered the opportunity to re-certify for 3 years.  There is a time-limit of 60 days to complete this re-certification.  Certification fees are detailed below.

The GLA:D^® Australia Hip and Knee Program has been set up as an implementation project by researchers at La Trobe’s Sports and Exercise Medicine Research Centre, following on from research by the GLA:D^® Program Developers in Denmark. It is aimed at improving care for people suffering from hip and/or knee osteoarthritis, and as such is not centred around making money or charging fees.

There are currently no costs to clinics to provide the program; the only costs relate to training clinicians and maintaining current certification of clinicians following training.

Only currently-certified clinicians will be able to offer the GLA:D^® Australia Hip and Knee Program at their clinics, but all clinicians who complete the training will be able to incorporate their learnings into clinical practice.

Fees for 2025:

• Initial course training fee $790 – includes initial certification post-course, and again at 12-months (total of 4 years, with a test at 12 months).
• Additional fees related to courses
  • transfer of registration to another course – $77 incl GST ($70 + $7 GST)
  • transfer of registration to another attendee – $55 incl GST ($50 + $5 GST)
  • changes to modules within a course due to inability to attend (subject to discussion with training team) – $55 incl GST ($50 + $5 GST)
  • cancellation fee – $55 incl GST ($50 + $5 GST)
• Re-certification fees
  • Re-certification period is for 3 years (from 12 months to 4 years from initial certification)
  • Fee for late (more than 2 months) certification / re-certification $50+GST ($55).  Additional work (review of training content) will also apply after 6 months.
  • All clinicians re-certifying at 4 years following initial certification will have a base re-certification fee of $90+GST ($99)
• Refresher course
  • For clinicians who 
    • have allowed their certification to lapse for more than 12 months after the due date 
    • did not complete initial certification within 6 months of initial training
  • Refresher course cost is $250+GST ($275)

All fees EXCEPT initial training fees can be paid here: https://pay.latrobe.edu.au/MaterialsSHE/tran?tran-type=7272; and should only be done in consultation with and on advice from GLA:D® Australia.

Clinicians with lapsed certification should email GLAD.Australia@latrobe.edu.au.

The team at GLA:D^® Australia are always looking for opportunities to improve the diagnosis, treatment and management of hip and knee osteoarthritis.  If you are interested in collaborating with research please get in touch with the GLA:D^® Australia Team –GLAD.Australia@latrobe.edu.au.

The GLA:D^® Australia Program is currently only available to Australian Registered Physiotherapists and Accredited Exercise Physiologists practicing in Australia.

For details about GLA:D^® Training Programs offered overseas, please visit https://gladinternational.org/ .

For all other international inquiries please contact Soren Skou – stskou@health.sdu.dk or visit the GLA:D^® International Network website .

Providers set the cost of the Program at their organisation/clinic, with most private clinics charging between $500-$700. Supervised exercise sessions can be billed under a “Group Consultation”, item code 560 (physiotherapists) or 502 (accredited exercise physiologists), with eligible participants receiving a rebate from their private health insurers.

We note that the private health insurance landscape is currently undergoing a period  of change and we recommend clinicians individually discuss options with patients. Eligible participants will receive a rebate from their private health insurers.

The GLA:D^® Program is generally run as a group session, but can be run individually if needed, depending on the participant’s needs.

Medicare-subsidised visits, under the Chronic Disease Management or Enhanced Primary Care plan, are only valid for 1:1 consultations, including the participant’s initial assessment, 3 month follow-up assessment and 1:1 supervised exercise sessions.

GLA:D^® Australia uses an online registry that automatically sends questionnaires to participants and compiles the results on a secure, onshore (Australian) server.

This allows only the GLA:D^® Australia research team at La Trobe University to access the data, that is then used (de-identified) in research publications, reports and our annual review.

So far this method has been used to collect information on more than 21,000 Australian participants and, internationally, over 100,000 participants.