DVA Provisional Access to Medical Treatment: PAMT Dates, Conditions and Forms

What PAMT Is and Why It Exists

DVA runs PAMT to pay for care on a fixed group of conditions ahead of a claim decision. It sits beside the claim and does not replace it.

Treatment Before a Decision

For most conditions, DVA pays for care only after it agrees the problem is linked to service. PAMT changes that order for 20 conditions. DVA's PAMT page says payment for treating them can start with liability still undecided.

The word "provisional" matters, because PAMT is temporary cover for the waiting period. On DVA's current dates, it stops no later than the last day of 2027. The section on when PAMT stops sets out each end point.

How Long the Wait Can Be

Claims take time. DVA's claims processing times page reports an average of 136 days to process an MRCA initial liability claim received in the previous 12 months. DVA last updated that page on 16 September 2026, so check it for the latest.

Claims still in the queue are older. DVA puts unfinished claims of that type at 191 days old on average. Our claim timeframes guide covers what can slow a claim down.

DVA says it will stay in touch during that time. Its page on making a claim says to expect contact at intervals of about 30 days, whether by call, letter, email or SMS. None of that contact is treatment, which is the gap PAMT is meant to fill.

PAMT and Presumptive Liability

Some newer claims may move faster. For a claim lodged 1 July 2026 or later, DVA has a presumptive liability route for some conditions. On that route, you are not asked to show the condition is linked to your service.

DVA's processing times page says an eligible claim with a confirmed diagnosis and complete information may be decided in under 2 weeks. A claim decided that quickly may never need PAMT. Where a claim takes longer, PAMT may cover the gap for a listed condition.

PAMT Dates for 2026 and 2027

You may still see earlier PAMT dates on older web pages. DVA has since moved both dates forward by a year.

The Dates DVA Lists Now

DVA's program dates set both limits. A claim lodged after the claim cut-off cannot qualify. Once you are in, care can continue during assessment until the program end at the latest.

What the May 2026 Budget Changed

Before the latest extension, the claim cut-off and the program end each fell exactly one year earlier.

The 2026-27 Federal Budget funded a further extension. DVA's Budget notice for health providers confirms the program now runs to the end of 2027.

DVA also extended the program in 2022 and 2024. Its PAMT page lists nothing beyond the current dates, so plan around the claim cut-off.

If 2027 Ends Before Your Decision

DVA currently lists the final day of 2027 as the program's end. PAMT cover ends on that day even where a claim is still undecided. A claim lodged late in the window may therefore get only a few months of cover.

New Claims Are Now MRCA Claims

A second change took effect on 1 July 2026, a day we call the changeover. Two older Acts stopped taking fresh claims for compensation that day. They are the VEA (the 1986 Act on veterans' entitlements) and the DRCA (the 1988 Act for Defence-related compensation claims).

DVA's page on the MRCA says new claims are now handled under the MRCA, the 2004 military compensation and rehabilitation Act. That matters here because PAMT depends on which Act covers your claim.

Who Can Use PAMT

Eligibility turns on who you are, which Act covers the claim and what you claimed for. Each part has to line up.

The Groups DVA Names

DVA's eligibility rules name four groups. They are people who have left the ADF, cadets, reservists who serve part time and declared members.

Current full-time members are not on that list. If you are still serving full time, ask DVA where you stand before you rely on PAMT.

The Claim You Need

Your claim may qualify if it meets each of these points:

• It names a listed condition, or several
• Its lodgement day falls between the earliest claim date in the dates table and the claim cut-off, with both of those days counted
• It is an MRCA claim or, if lodged before the changeover, a DRCA one

DVA's eligibility wording leaves out VEA claims. PAMT also attaches to a liability claim, the opening stage, where DVA decides whether the condition is linked to service.

Claims With More Than One Condition

DVA's wording allows more than one, so a claim can carry several listed conditions. Once your GP signs the form, PAMT covers each listed condition the GP confirmed on it. It also covers treatment for a problem the GP confirms is linked to any of them.

Any other condition on the same claim sits outside PAMT, and most wait for a decision in the usual way.

The window also reaches back. An undecided claim from as far back as the window's first day is still inside those dates. It also has to be an MRCA or DRCA claim, because a VEA claim lodged ahead of the changeover stays a VEA claim.

Is your pending claim a DRCA one? Confirm your PAMT cover with DVA.

If Your Service Is Older

Until the changeover, your period and type of service decided which Act applied. DVA's page on making a claim now says a claim lodged on changeover day or later is an MRCA claim. That holds however long ago you were hurt or became ill.

The same page ties PAMT to MRCA claims that DVA is assessing. So a veteran with older service who lodges a new claim may now fall inside the program. Whether it applies to you still depends on the condition and the rest of DVA's test, so confirm with DVA.

Which Conditions PAMT Covers

PAMT is built around the conditions on DVA's list. DVA describes them as the conditions it most commonly accepts, 20 in all. They fall into three groups.

Several names below are worded more plainly than DVA's. DVA's own page carries the official wording.

Musculoskeletal: Sixteen Conditions

• Lumbar spondylosis
• Thoracic spondylosis
• Rotator cuff (shoulder) syndrome
• Prolapsed intervertebral disc
• Labral tear
• Dislocation
• Joint instability
• Internal knee derangement
• Chondromalacia patella
• Osteoarthritis
• Shin splints
• Achilles bursitis and tendinopathy
• Plantar fasciitis
• Sprains and strains
• Fracture
• Cuts, stabs, abrasions and lacerations

Hearing: Two Conditions

• Tinnitus
• Hearing loss (sensorineural)

DVA's PAMT pages do not spell out what the program funds for these two conditions. Confirm with DVA what it will pay towards hearing tests or devices.

Skin: Two Conditions

• Solar keratosis
• Non-melanotic skin cancer (malignant neoplasm)

When the Problem Is Related to a Listed Condition

DVA's PAMT guidance for health providers asks your GP to confirm one of two things. Either the problem needing treatment is a listed condition, or the problem is connected to one. Your GP makes that call.

If you think your problem is linked to a listed condition on your claim, say so at the appointment.

What Is Not on the List

Mental health is absent from DVA's PAMT list. DVA's non-liability cover for mental health may fund care for any mental health condition for eligible current and former members. You are not asked to show that service caused it.

My guide to that cover explains who qualifies. Open Arms counselling is free, confidential and open at any hour to veterans and to their families on 1800 011 046.

With no accepted claim, DVA may also pay to treat cancer (malignant neoplasm) and pulmonary tuberculosis. Whether you qualify for that turns on the kind of service you did.

For most other conditions, DVA decides the claim first. Funded treatment follows if DVA accepts the condition.

The Steps From Claim to Care

DVA's PAMT page describes no separate application. The process starts with your claim and runs through your GP.

Lodge Your Claim

PAMT starts from a liability claim naming a listed condition. DVA's routes for a claim are:

• Online through MyService
• On paper, using a claim form
• By phone for help and questions on 1800 838 372
• In person at a VAN office, one of DVA's walk-in shopfronts for veterans, if you want a hand lodging

Every condition on the claim needs its diagnosis confirmed by a health professional qualified to give one. My claim lodgement walkthrough shows what to include.

Wait for DVA's Letter

After you lodge, DVA's letter arrives and explains the program. With it comes DVA's form for confirming treatment, which we call the PAMT form from here. It lists the PAMT conditions for your GP to check.

DVA's PAMT page carries no download link for the form and gives no timeframe for the letter. If your claim names a listed condition and nothing has arrived, phone DVA and ask.

The GP's Part

Your GP decides whether what you need treated matches a listed condition or ties back to one. If so, the GP fills in the form and sends DVA a copy. DVA tells GPs the paperwork should be a matter of minutes.

DVA's PAMT page puts access to treatment after that step. Ask DVA before you pay for treatment ahead of it.

If your GP has not seen the form before, DVA's page for health providers sets out what to confirm. It also says GPs may then bill DVA for treating that condition through its usual billing process.

You get the form back to keep. Hold on to it and take it to appointments while you are on PAMT. Another provider may ask to see it.

Seeing a Physio or Similar Provider

Allied health care under PAMT follows DVA's standard referral rules. Your GP has to refer you first, unless the service is dental or optometry.

DVA's treatment cycle rules then apply. A referral is good for one year or 12 sessions and stops at whichever limit you reach first.

My treatment cycle explainer covers how referrals renew. Before you book, ask the provider whether they will treat you under PAMT.

How I Read a Claim for PAMT

PAMT starts from the wording on your claim, so that is where we look first. When we prepare a liability claim with a veteran we compare the diagnosis from their health professional with DVA's list.

Where the two line up, we tell the veteran to expect DVA's letter and to book a GP visit once it lands.

We also remind them that PAMT sits beside the claim and is not a decision on it. A signed form gets treatment under way, but the claim still needs its own evidence.

What PAMT Funds and What Has to Wait

PAMT is narrower than a Veteran Card. It pays for care of the condition you claimed and leaves several kinds of support until after a decision.

What Is Covered

DVA's guidance for health providers says two kinds of care are covered. They are medical care and care from allied health providers, where clinically necessary. Funding follows DVA's Treatment Principles, the rulebook for DVA-paid care.

DVA's reimbursement form gives a sense of the range. It lists GP visits, allied health, specialist consults, imaging, pathology, hospital accounts and pharmaceutical items. A category on a form is not a promise that a given treatment is funded, so check with DVA first.

PAMT pays only for the listed condition your GP confirmed or a problem linked with it. It is not general health cover.

What Is Not Covered

DVA's PAMT page for health providers lists support that PAMT does not fund:

• Community nursing
• Home care services
• Rehabilitation
• Rehabilitation Appliances Program items
• Changes to your home or vehicle

DVA says it funds these only after it accepts liability.

Treatment, Not Reports for Your Claim

PAMT is for treatment. Reports and assessments for the claim itself follow a different rule.

DVA is direct about this on its claims pages. Your diagnosis is the exception, because DVA asks for it when you lodge. For any further assessment or report, wait until DVA has asked for it and approved it.

DVA warns that the cost of one arranged without its approval may stay with you. That includes one arranged by a representative.

If You Paid for Treatment Yourself

DVA has a reimbursement form for the program, Form D9338. It is for people already approved for PAMT who paid for eligible treatment themselves. One reason Form D9338 lists is a provider who would not take your PAMT form.

Care you receive outside Australia is a different matter. DVA's overseas treatment page names PAMT as a program that does not fund it.

DVA decides each reimbursement claim. The form does not say whether costs from before your GP signed the PAMT form are refunded.

Expect to supply itemised receipts, plus referrals for some services. The form also warns that not every pharmaceutical item qualifies for a refund. It can be returned by email or post, or handed in at a VAN office.

Did Medicare or your health fund cover some of the bill? The form asks for a statement of the benefits paid. DVA uses it to consider the gap you were left with.

When PAMT Stops

DVA's access rules name three end points for PAMT. They are the claim decision, the end of any review or reconsideration and the program end.

When the Answer Is Yes

You move to DVA's normal arrangements and DVA says your treatment is not disrupted. If you have no card yet, DVA will issue the Specific Conditions version of the Veteran Card. Often called the White Card, it funds the clinically required care for the condition DVA accepted.

Ask each provider up front whether they take the card. My White Card eligibility guide explains what the card covers.

An accepted claim also leads to a needs assessment. No compensation is paid until that step is done.

When the Answer Is No

Your PAMT cover stops if DVA declines the claim and you take it no further. DVA states it will not seek repayment for care it funded while assessing your claim. Your GP is the person to ask about treatment after that.

If You Challenge the Decision

Cover can continue while you challenge the decision. DVA's PAMT page says cover also applies through what it calls the appeal period. It does not say when that period starts or stops.

Your decision letter explains how to ask for a review and how long you have. Under DVA's single review pathway, you usually have 12 months to lodge with the VRB, the independent board that reviews DVA decisions. That limit is for lodging the review and does not move the program's end date.

So it is unclear whether cover holds between the decision and the day you lodge. Ask DVA before you book more treatment. My appeals guide sets out the review steps.

Our Part in a PAMT Claim

PAMT rides on your claim, which is where we work. Our advocacy service is paid and independent. Medical treatment is not something we provide.

We have supported over 10,000 veterans through the DVA claims process.

Our work is preparing a veteran's claim for initial liability and organising the supporting evidence. The diagnosis on your claim comes from your health professional and we do not decide whether PAMT applies. The PAMT form itself stays between you, your GP and DVA.

Find Out Whether Treatment Has to Wait

PAMT may pay to treat any listed condition if you meet DVA's rules and lodge no later than 30 June 2027.

Lodge the claim, watch for DVA's letter and take the form along to your GP, the person who confirms whether PAMT applies. For help preparing the claim itself, speak with the Veterans First Consulting team.