Independent audiology practice valuations across Australia

Where audiology revenue comes from

The Hearing Services Program provides subsidised hearing services and devices to eligible Australians, and it is the funding source that sets audiology apart from the other allied health sectors. Under its voucher scheme, more than 300 contracted providers deliver services across 3,000 locations. Under its Community Service Obligations, Hearing Australia serves people aged under 26, eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and people who need specialist services or live in a remote area.

The voucher scheme is open to eligible Australians aged 21 or older, such as pensioner concession card holders and Veteran Gold Card holders, and a voucher is valid for five years. People under 21 are served through the Community Service Obligations instead, and a person eligible for both components can choose either.

Services are paid at fees the Commonwealth sets. The Schedule of Service Items and Fees is re-made for each financial year and gives each item its own fee: for 2026-27 a first assessment (item 600) pays $164.90. The GST-exclusive amounts are indexed on 1 July, for most items by the Wage Cost Index and for client maintenance contributions by the Consumer Price Index. For a fully subsidised device the client may be charged only the scheduled maintenance co-payment, with a separate co-payment for replacements. For a partially subsidised device the practice may charge the difference between the subsidy and the device cost, as set out in a signed quote.

Clients may also buy services and devices the program does not provide, such as home visits, wax management and accessories. Where the program covers a service but the client's current voucher does not make it available, the practice must keep notes of the advice given and a signed acknowledgement, together with a device quote if a device is fitted. Private income of this kind is valued separately, because its margin does not depend on the Commonwealth fee schedule.

Medicare contributes through a small set of items. Diagnostic audiology items 82300 to 82332 let eligible audiologists perform tests on the written request of a medical practitioner, and items 10952, 81310, 82030 and 82035 cover chronic condition, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health assessment and under-25 neurodevelopmental or disability services. To bill the diagnostic items an audiologist must be a Full Member of Audiology Australia holding a Certificate of Clinical Practice, or an Ordinary Member, Audiologist or Fellow Audiologist of the Australian College of Audiology. Audiometrists cannot bill several of these items at present, although the MBS Review Advisory Committee consulted until 9 June 2026 on extending some of them to audiometrists.

For veterans, the program supplies the hearing devices, and DVA's provider information, last updated in June 2023, says it funds assistive listening devices through the Rehabilitation Appliances Program and treatment through its Tinnitus Program. It funds hearing aids outside the program only where needs cannot be met by program hearing aids and assistive listening devices, and only with prior approval. NDIS participants who meet the program's eligibility rules receive hearing support through the program rather than the NDIS, though the NDIS may fund additional supports such as complementary technology and payment of a maintenance agreement. See NDIS valuations for how that revenue is assessed.

Private health insurance extras are a further channel. The government's privatehealth.gov.au lists hearing aids among the prostheses general treatment cover may include, and warns that nearly all general treatment services are covered only to a limited extent. APRA's figures for the June 2026 quarter show insurers paid $15.24 million in hearing aids and audiology benefits across 23,875 services, against fees charged of $58.31 million.

The Commonwealth contract is the central asset

A practice delivers program services under a service provider contract with the Commonwealth, supported by a site identification number for each location and a qualified practitioner number for each clinician. The Department's sample contract, dated 1 July 2026, shows an end date of 30 June 2029 that the Commonwealth may extend, lets either party terminate on notice of at least 20 business days, and lets the Commonwealth terminate immediately for default. The signed contract governs, so the valuer treats the remaining term and renewal as assumptions to be tested.

The contract cannot simply be sold. The provider must not assign its rights or novate the contract without the Commonwealth's prior written consent, must ask at least 20 business days before the proposed date, and may be audited first. The Commonwealth may refuse consent or attach conditions in its sole discretion. Where the provider's accreditation under the Hearing Services Administration Act 1997 has been transferred, the contract says the Commonwealth approves novation to the entity that received it.

A share sale raises a related issue. The contract defines a Corporate Change to include a change in the entity's directors or managers, in the person who controls more than 50 per cent of the votes, or in the person who holds more than 50 per cent of the equity. The provider must notify the Commonwealth at least 20 business days beforehand where practicable, and the Commonwealth may terminate the contract immediately on a Corporate Change. How a particular transaction would be treated should be confirmed with your lawyer, and the report states what the valuation assumes.

The Department's provider handbook sets out what a sale involves. The seller seeks consent, writes to every program client about the change of ownership, seeks novation of battery and maintenance agreements, and signs a Deed of Termination. The buyer honours existing maintenance agreements, cannot claim relocated maintenance for those clients until the current maintenance period ends, creates the sites in the portal under its own contractor identity and links transferring practitioners within five business days. A buyer that is not already a provider would need to apply to become one, supplying among other things a signed accountant's statement of financial viability and its ambient noise and calibration certificates.

Clients can move, and the records belong to the Commonwealth

Program clients may relocate to another provider at any time, and a previous provider must not pressure a relocated client to stay. Program client records are owned by the Commonwealth, a provider must not sell records or the personal information in them, and records must be kept for seven years from the last interaction. A client list in the usual sense is therefore not an asset a seller can sell, and the valuation places its weight on what keeps clients attending: location, reputation, referrers, the maintenance agreement cycle and the clinicians they know. A client whose voucher expires may be issued a return voucher if still eligible, but nothing obliges them to return to the same provider.

Devices, margin and manufacturer ownership

Devices fitted under the program must be on the Schedule of Approved Devices and bought directly from an Appointed Supplier. The device prices payable are those in the schedule of fees at the date of fitting, so the margin on a fully subsidised device is the gap between the scheduled price and what the practice pays its supplier. The practice must give each client a written device quote and a device supply disclosure statement, which says whether the practice or its staff receive any benefit from the supplier (including exclusive supply arrangements, volume discounts, commissions, gifts or rewards), whether the devices are made by a related party or a party with a financial interest in the practice, and whether the practice is itself an Appointed Supplier.

The disclosure exists because of how the sector is structured. The 2021 Independent Review of the Hearing Services Program reported that many of the larger contracted providers are vertically integrated with device manufacturers or suppliers. For the three years to 2019-20, it found that the ten providers serving 80 per cent of voucher clients included seven that supplied over 90 per cent of their devices from a single manufacturer, and it recorded concerns about commissions and upselling. Those findings are historical, but they explain why a valuer asks whether a practice's supply terms depend on an ownership link or an exclusive arrangement that a buyer would not inherit.

Qualified practitioners, workforce and contractors

Program services must be delivered by an audiologist or audiometrist who is a qualified practitioner, or by a provisional practitioner under a qualified practitioner's supervision. A qualified practitioner holds an approved membership category with a recognised professional body (Audiology Australia, or the Australian College of Audiology incorporating the Hearing Aid Audiology Society of Australia) and an active qualified practitioner number. A qualified audiologist needs an Australian master's degree in clinical audiology or equivalent, and a qualified audiometrist a tertiary diploma or bachelor's degree in audiometry or equivalent.

The number belongs to the practitioner, not the practice. It stays with the clinician when they change employer, and each employer links and unlinks it through the portal. For most items a claim is paid only where the service was delivered or supervised by a qualified practitioner whose number is linked to the provider. For a buyer, the clinicians are the right to bill, and a practice whose practitioners leave at settlement may not be able to claim until replacements are linked.

The program also limits how clinicians can be engaged. As the contract records, the Hearing Services Program (Voucher) Instrument 2019 prohibits subcontracting of services except to obtain locum qualified practitioners or where the schedule expressly allows it, as it does for audiological case management items, so a practice that relies on contractor audiologists on percentage splits needs to show how those arrangements fit. Revenue NSW Ruling PTA 041 applies the payroll tax contractor provisions to medical centre businesses that contract with medical, dental and other health practitioners. It does not name audiology, and whether it reaches a particular clinic should be confirmed with your accountant. See payroll tax and contractor arrangements.

Replacing a clinician is not quick. Jobs and Skills Australia's 2025 Occupation Shortage List rates audiologists in shortage nationally and in every state and territory, while audiometrists are rated no shortage. A practice that recruits, supervises and retains provisional practitioners carries less key-person risk than one that has never replaced an audiologist (see the clinical workforce and value).

Regulation is also changing. The Health Workforce Taskforce expects the legislation bringing audiology into the National Scheme to be completed in the second half of 2028, with registration starting on a date set by regulation, and in May 2026 it reported that Ministers had agreed a dual profession National Board. How registration would affect staffing and costs is not yet known, so the valuer treats it as a risk and, where it matters, as a scenario.

Equipment, sites and compliance

Every room used for program services must meet the Australian Standard for Auditory Assessment (AS/NZ 1269.4 2014), with ambient noise level testing at every site every three years and whenever a change in background noise levels is evident. Audiometric equipment must be calibrated to the relevant standard, generally every year, and the provider certifies both in an annual self-assessment. The program does not specify which equipment to use, so the booth, audiometer and other testing equipment are the practice's own decision, though fitted devices must be verified against a prescriptive target. Services can also be delivered in a mobile unit or at a client's home or an aged care facility, and the site identification number must be valid on the date of service.

Compliance is part of what a buyer inherits. Claims must be submitted within six months of the date of service and supported by evidence on the client file, and claims that do not meet the requirements must be repaid, even after a provider has closed. The Department's report on the 2025 self-assessments records that, of 363 providers required to submit one, 301 needed follow-up on at least one issue and 40 said they could not provide evidence such as ambient noise certificates, calibration certificates, practitioner membership or insurance documents. A valuation is not a compliance audit, but the valuer asks for the evidence and the claims history, and treats unresolved recoveries as a liability.

Maintainable earnings after a market audiologist wage

Maintainable earnings are the profit the practice can produce in a normal year after normalisation, which removes one-off, personal and non-market items. They are stated before interest and tax, either before depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) or after them (EBIT). In audiology the decisive adjustment is the owner's own clinical work. An owner-audiologist who completes assessments and fittings on a modest drawing is earning a wage, not a return on capital, so the valuation charges the market cost of a qualified practitioner for the hours worked. See maintainable earnings.

Goodwill and practitioner dependence

Goodwill is the value of a practice above its identifiable net assets. Personal goodwill attaches to a clinician and leaves with them; transferable goodwill attaches to the location, brand, systems, referrers and team, and can be sold. In audiology the picture is shaped by long clinical relationships and by annual maintenance agreements and client reviews that bring clients back, set against clients' freedom to relocate. Key-person risk is highest where the owner holds the referrer relationships, the aged care or home-visit rounds and the only qualified practitioner number. See how practitioner dependence affects value.

Choosing the method

Established practices are usually valued by capitalising future maintainable earnings: dividing them by a capitalisation rate, or multiplying them by a multiple, the factor that converts a year of earnings into a value. The multiple rises with a contract and sites in good standing, several retained qualified practitioners, a broad referrer base, multi-brand device supply on documented terms and a clean claims record. It falls with owner dependence, margin that rests on a supplier link, unresolved recoveries, a short remaining contract term and doubt about whether the contract would transfer. HPNA does not publish sector multiples, because the assumptions behind any figure matter more than the figure.

What the conclusion includes

Enterprise value is the value of the operating practice before debt and cash. Equity value is what the owners hold once borrowings are repaid and surplus assets are added back. An earnings-based conclusion assumes that a normal level of working capital transfers with the business. In audiology that is mainly receivables, device stock and service already paid for: an initial fitting with a maintenance agreement includes twelve months of maintenance and batteries, so part of the fee received at fitting pays for service a buyer must still deliver.

Where only a parcel is valued, a minority interest may warrant a discount for lack of control and for lack of marketability, unless the shareholders agreement or the purpose calls for a pro-rata share of the whole. A price actually paid may also sit above or below market value, because a particular buyer may be paying for a location, a referrer relationship or an existing contract.