Allied health virtual assistant and admin services in Australia, honestly compared

We run one of the services on this list. DotVA places offshore VAs from 10 hours a week, and most of the specialists built for allied health clinics sell a few hours a week to Australian practices. If you want two to five hours, or an Australian-resident person in your practice software, other rows in this table are the right place to look and we are not. That is the most useful thing we can tell you, so it comes first.

The method is the same as our comparison of Australian VA agencies. Every claim about another provider comes from its own website, checked on 11 November 2026 and linked in the table. Where a figure is not published we write “not stated publicly” rather than guess, and where a site does not say where its team is, we do not assume.

If you are earlier than shortlisting and want to see what an allied health VA does all week, start with our allied health page. Psychologists have their own comparison.

The services at a glance

Service	What it is	Published price	Where the team is	Software named	Terms
DotVA allied health virtual assistant (that’s us)	Managed offshore VA: one dedicated person who works to your direction	$12-17/hr admin, $18-25/hr specialist, AUD ex GST, from 10 hrs/week	Philippines, working Australian business hours	Cliniko, Nookal, Halaxy, Splose, Zanda, Coreplus	No lock-in contract; stop any time in the first 14 days, then 30 days’ notice; free replacement any time
Offsiters	Onshore admin by the hour, dedicated VA	$69/hr + GST, two-hour weekly minimum, $139 + GST establishment fee; monthly plan $159 + GST with 2 hours; phone support $45 + GST a month plus call time	Australia: VIC, NSW, QLD and WA	Halaxy and Zanda, per its FAQ	No lock-in, 14 days’ notice
Clinic Aide	Onshore reception by call volume, admin by the hour	Reception $120 + GST a month for up to 30 calls, $480 + GST for up to 120, plus a $14.95 + GST monthly phone line fee; admin $80-95/hr + GST with a $245 + GST onboarding fee	Adelaide; “our whole team are Australian residents”	Cliniko, Halaxy, Splose, Nookal, PracSuite, Zanda	No lock-in; 5-day reception trial for practices new to a reception service
Aspire Admin	Phones and admin packages	Phones from $30 a month; solo support from $79 a week; standard package from $285 a week; its worked example shows a $275 one-off training and onboarding fee (GST basis not stated)	Queensland business; team location not stated publicly	Not stated publicly	Not stated publicly
Therapy Assist	Small admin service, the same person each week	$200 a week for 4 hours up to $750 a week for 15 hours (GST basis not stated); weekends +20%	Sydney hours; location not stated publicly	Halaxy, Cliniko	No lock-in; two weeks’ notice
PractiCal VA	Sole operator	Retainers from $550 a month; ad hoc from $55/hr with a 2-hour minimum (GST basis not stated)	Not stated publicly	Cliniko, Power Diary, Halaxy	No long-term commitment
Time Well Spent	Admin and virtual reception team with a dedicated practice manager	Not stated publicly	Melbourne office	Halaxy, Cliniko, Zanda, Splose	Try for three months, or a 12-month term with 50% off onboarding
Virtual Connect	Admin by hourly rate, weekly retainer or project	Amounts not stated publicly; 5 hours a week minimum on its packages	Not stated publicly	Cliniko, Splose, Nookal, Halaxy, Power Diary	No lock-in
Sage Admin Solutions	Back-office admin and system setup; no traditional phone answering or reception service	Practice software setup from $1,089 incl GST; ongoing admin not stated publicly	Melbourne	Zanda, Halaxy, Cliniko, Splose	Not stated publicly
Clinic Admin	Managed offshore staff, priced per full-time role	Not stated publicly; quoted per full-time role in AUD	Supervised office in Balanga, Philippines	Cliniko, Halaxy, Nookal, Power Diary	30 days’ written notice; no trial
HealthDoers	Managed offshore VA	”From $24,000 /year” on its allied health page; its pricing page says “from just $4 per hour” (currency and GST basis not stated)	Filipino staff; offices in Richmond VIC and Taguig, Metro Manila	Cliniko, Nookal, Halaxy, Best Practice, Genie, HotDoc	No lock-in contracts; 30 days’ written notice
Tarino	Recruiter: you engage and pay the person directly	$5,000 once excl GST ($250 search fee plus $4,750 on hire), then no monthly fee to Tarino; its allied health page gives “typical remuneration $1,200 a month, paid to your hire”	Philippines-based hires; Tarino is in Sydney	Cliniko, Halaxy, Splose, Nookal, Power Diary	No lock-in; replacement search within 6 months
Lyngo	AI receptionist for allied health	A$139 a month with 45 calls, A$249 with 100, A$395 with 200, ex GST	AI, 24/7; Sydney and London company	Cliniko, Nookal, PracSuite, Splose	No lock-in; 14-day free trial
Aeva AI	AI receptionist for allied health	$259 AUD a month with 100 calls, $389 with 200 (GST basis not stated); extra calls $2.80	AI, 24/7; Auckland company, recordings stored in Australia	Cliniko, Splose, PracSuite, Nookal	Month to month; 14-day free trial

Checked on each provider’s own pages on 11 November 2026. “Not stated publicly” means we could not find the figure on the provider’s public pages; it is an observation, not a criticism.

Four more services support allied health practices and quote on enquiry: Remyee (reception and billing admin in Cliniko, Halaxy and Nookal), Little Big Help VA (Halaxy and Zanda), The VA Circle (based in South Australia; Halaxy, Zanda and Xero) and Tina K Admin (Halaxy, Zanda and Nookal).

Our row in full is on pricing. If a 30-minute call beats ten tabs, book a discovery call, and if another row fits your clinic better we will tell you on the call.

Four products share one label

The table mixes four different things, and most of the confusion in this market comes from comparing across them.

1. Specialist admin by the hour or package (Offsiters, Clinic Aide, Aspire Admin, Therapy Assist, PractiCal VA, Time Well Spent, Virtual Connect, Sage Admin Solutions). Services built for Australian allied health practices, some selling as little as two hours a week. Offsiters, Clinic Aide and Sage Admin Solutions say their teams are in Australia; the others do not state where their people work, so ask. You pay for the specialisation: about $50-95 an hour on the published prices.
2. A managed offshore VA (DotVA, Clinic Admin, HealthDoers). One person inside your practice software for a larger scope: intake, referral and care plan chasing, NDIS and Medicare claims, gap payments and debtor follow-up. The provider engages and pays the VA; replacement terms differ, and ours is a free replacement any time. We place from 10 hours a week; Clinic Admin prices per full-time role.
3. A recruiter (Tarino). You pay a one-off fee, then engage and pay the person yourself. It is usually the cheapest route over a year or more for a full-time role, and you take on the management and the risk if they leave.
4. An AI receptionist (Lyngo, Aeva AI). Software that answers every call around the clock and books, reschedules and cancels in Cliniko, Nookal, Splose or PracSuite. Neither lists referral chasing, claim lodgement or debtor follow-up among its features.

What 10 hours a week costs

These figures use each provider’s published rate. The multiplication is our arithmetic, not the provider’s quote, and all are before GST unless noted.

Option	Published rate	10 hours a week
DotVA admin VA	$12-17/hr	$120-170 a week
DotVA NDIS-specialist VA	$18-25/hr	$180-250 a week
Therapy Assist	$600 a week for 12 hours; $400 for 8 (no 10-hour package)	About $500 a week at its $50 hourly equivalent (GST basis not stated)
PractiCal VA	From $55/hr ad hoc (retainer pricing not published)	From about $550 a week (GST basis not stated)
Offsiters	$69/hr	$690 a week
Clinic Aide	$80/hr on its 16-hour monthly tier	$800 a week

Under 10 hours a week we are not an option at all: we do not place below that, and a specialist’s small package is how you buy two to five hours. The hourly gap only matters once the hours do.

How to compare them

1. Calls or admin? Count last fortnight’s missed calls and your weekly hours of non-clinical admin. Calls alone points to a reception service or AI. Admin points to an assistant.
2. How many hours? Under five hours a week, a specialist’s small package fits. At 10 or more, the hourly rate becomes the biggest number in your budget.
3. Which software? Check the provider works in your system before anything else. Offsiters trains on Halaxy and Zanda, Therapy Assist names Halaxy and Cliniko, and the AI receptionists need Cliniko, Nookal, Splose or PracSuite.
4. Which funding streams? If NDIS, DVA or WorkCover billing is most of your admin, ask for experience with that stream specifically. Our NDIS billing page shows what the work involves, and NDIS providers have their own comparison.
5. Onshore or offshore? This is a privacy and preference decision, not only a price one. Read the next section before you decide.
6. What are the exit terms? Published notice periods run from two weeks to 30 days. Read the terms document as well as the marketing page; notice is usually set there.

Privacy: ask this before price

Patient records are sensitive information under the Privacy Act, so start here.

Providers whose teams are in Australia keep the work onshore, so APP 8 only comes into it if the provider itself sends data offshore. Where a provider does not say where its team is, ask before you grant access. You still need a confidentiality agreement and to set their access deliberately.

Offshore assistants, including ours, are, in most cases, a cross-border disclosure under APP 8 of the Australian Privacy Principles. You stay the responsible entity, and an overseas recipient’s breach of the APPs can be treated as your breach. Our guide to hiring an offshore VA legally covers the obligations. In practice the risk is managed by scoping access: practice software supports role-based permissions, so a VA’s login can be blocked from clinical notes and see only the diary, billing and correspondence. We add a signed confidentiality agreement before day one and a data-handling addendum mirroring the APPs, including APP 8, on request. The full setup is on our data security page.

If carrying that obligation is not something you want, that is a fair reason to choose a provider with an Australian team, whatever the price difference.

Who should pick whom

• Two to five hours a week from a specialist: Offsiters at $69 an hour plus GST with a two-hour weekly minimum if you run Halaxy or Zanda (its VAs are Australian-based); Therapy Assist at $200 a week for four hours on Halaxy or Cliniko; PractiCal VA from $55 an hour.
• You mainly need the phones answered by a person: Clinic Aide, an Adelaide team of Australian residents, from $120 plus GST a month for up to 30 calls plus a line fee, or Aspire Admin’s phones-only package from $30 a month.
• Bookings made after hours without a person: Lyngo or Aeva AI, if you run Cliniko, Nookal, Splose or PracSuite.
• A practice system set up or cleaned up: Sage Admin Solutions publishes setup from $1,089 including GST; Tina K Admin and The VA Circle also offer setup projects.
• A group practice that wants a team with a practice manager: Time Well Spent, which has supported practices since 2006.
• A full-time offshore team member based in a supervised office: Clinic Admin.
• A full-time offshore hire you are happy to engage and manage yourself: Tarino’s one-off fee will usually cost less over time than a managed service, ours included.
• 10 to 30 hours a week from one dedicated person, managed for you, at a published hourly rate: that is the clinic we built DotVA for. See what the work looks like for physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech pathology practices, or by software: Cliniko, Nookal, Halaxy and Splose.

Run your own numbers

Price your hours on the VA cost calculator and check our tiers on pricing. If phones are the main problem, our comparison of virtual receptionist services covers the per-call and AI options in more detail, and the allied health virtual receptionist page shows how a dedicated receptionist runs. If the right answer for your clinic is one of the other names in the table, we would rather you find that out now than in month two.