WORKSAFEBC COVERAGE
What WorkSafeBC covers for physiotherapy
The treatment period, the two extensions, and the visit pool kinesiology shares with it. Set by WorkSafeBC, identical at every clinic in BC.
THE SHORT ANSWER
How many physiotherapy visits does WorkSafeBC cover in BC?
On an accepted WorkSafeBC claim, the Physiotherapy Treatment Period covers up to 10 visits or 5 calendar weeks, whichever is reached first. If you need more, your physiotherapist requests an extension: a Standard Extension adds 8 visits over 4 weeks, and an Extended Extension adds 16 visits over 8 weeks. Those counts include kinesiology and PTSW support sessions, which draw from the same visit pool. The numbers are set in WorkSafeBC's Physiotherapy Services Reference Manual, so they are the same at every clinic in BC.
The question almost every injured worker asks first is how much physiotherapy WorkSafeBC will actually pay for. The answer is published, it is specific, and it is the same everywhere in the province.
It is also widely misreported. A figure of 16 sessions over six weeks circulates on clinic websites across BC, including on this one until September 2026. It does not appear in any WorkSafeBC document. The 16 is real but it belongs to the Extended Extension, and that extension runs 8 weeks, not 6.
This page gives the actual allocation, explains what counts against it, and is clear about the one service Launch Rehab cannot bill to WorkSafeBC.
AT A GLANCE
- Treatment Period
- 10 visits or 5 weeks
- Standard Extension
- 8 visits or 4 weeks
- Extended Extension
- 16 visits or 8 weeks
- Kinesiology / PTSW
- Shares the same pool
- Visits per day
- One per claim
- Cost to worker
- No charge with pre-approval
- Massage therapy
- Not billed to WSBC at Launch
- Assessment window
- Within 60 days of injury
THE NUMBERS
The visit allocation, and where it comes from
WorkSafeBC funds physiotherapy in blocks it calls periods. You start in the Physiotherapy Treatment Period. If recovery needs longer than that period allows, your physiotherapist asks WorkSafeBC to extend it, and there are two sizes of extension.
The counts sit in the Visit Allocation table of the Physiotherapy Services Reference Manual, February 2026. Because they are set centrally, a clinic cannot offer you more funded visits than another clinic. Any clinic implying otherwise has misread the manual.
Treatment Period: 10 visits or 5 weeks
Whichever is reached first. This is the important detail most summaries drop. If you attend twice a week you will hit 10 visits at around week five and both limits land together, but if you attend once a week the 5 calendar weeks expire while you still have visits left on paper.
Standard Extension: 8 visits or 4 weeks
Requested by your physiotherapist through a Treatment Plan Request Report, and approved by a WorkSafeBC officer before it starts. It is not automatic.
Extended Extension: 16 visits or 8 weeks
The larger of the two extensions, for injuries that need a longer runway. This is the real home of the 16 that gets misquoted as an EAPP allowance.
The pool is shared
The manual counts PT treatment visits together with kinesiology and PTSW support sessions. A kinesiology session is not an extra on top of your physio visits, it comes out of the same allocation.
Visit counts come from the Visit Allocation table in WorkSafeBC's Physiotherapy Services Reference Manual, February 2026. They are set by WorkSafeBC, not by the clinic, so they are the same at every physiotherapy clinic in BC.
THE PRECONDITION
The treatment period needs an accepted claim
The Reference Manual is blunt about this: the Physiotherapy Treatment Period may only be provided on an accepted claim. The initial assessment is treated differently, which is what makes early treatment possible while a decision is pending.
If your claim is still pending when the treatment period would begin, the clinic decides how to handle payment. It can ask you to pay privately and wait, or it can wait for the decision before continuing treatment. If your claim is then accepted within 60 days of the assessment, the clinic must refund you every dollar you paid, including anything billed to your private insurer, and invoice WorkSafeBC instead.
If the claim is disallowed, WorkSafeBC does not pay for treatment delivered while it was pending. Ask the clinic to tell you in writing which situation you are in before you book a run of appointments.
COST
What a worker pays at Launch Rehab
For physiotherapy on a pre-approved WorkSafeBC claim, the worker pays nothing at the desk. Launch bills WorkSafeBC directly. That is the entry on the rate card, effective April 1, 2026.
There is one service to be clear about. Launch Rehab does not accept WorkSafeBC claims for registered massage therapy. If massage therapy is part of what you want, it is private-pay or through your extended health plan, not through your WSBC claim.
- Physiotherapy: no charge. With pre-approval, initial assessment and subsequent visits are billed to WorkSafeBC and cost the worker nothing.
- Kinesiology: from the shared pool. Support sessions run at least 45 minutes with a minimum of 30 minutes of direct one-to-one time, and need no separate approval. Your physiotherapist decides when they are clinically appropriate and stays responsible for the plan.
- Massage therapy: not through WSBC at Launch. We do not accept WorkSafeBC claims for massage therapy. Private and extended health rates are on the rates page.
THE RULE THAT SURPRISES PEOPLE
One visit per claim per day
You can only be treated once per day per accepted claim, regardless of how many body areas are involved or which type of visit it is. A kinesiology session cannot be billed on the same day as a physiotherapy treatment visit under the same claim.
In practice this shapes your week. If your plan includes both physiotherapy and kinesiology, they go on separate days. Booking them back to back on one afternoon to save a trip does not work under WorkSafeBC billing rules, so tell the front desk you are on a WSBC claim when you schedule.
BOOK OR ASK
Book a WorkSafeBC assessment if
WORKSAFEBC AT LAUNCH REHAB · FIVE STUDIOS
We accept WorkSafeBC physiotherapy claims at all five studios and bill WorkSafeBC directly, so pre-approved physiotherapy and kinesiology support sessions cost you nothing at the desk. We do not accept WorkSafeBC claims for massage therapy. Not sure where to start? Call any studio and describe what happened. It is a two-minute conversation.
FAQ
Common questions.
No. That figure appears in no WorkSafeBC document. The Physiotherapy Treatment Period is up to 10 visits or 5 calendar weeks, whichever comes first. The number 16 belongs to the Extended Extension, which runs over 8 weeks rather than 6. The confusion is common enough that clinic websites across BC repeat it, so check any session count against WorkSafeBC's Physiotherapy Services Reference Manual before relying on it.
SOURCES
Where the facts on this page come from.
- Physiotherapy Services Reference Manual · WorkSafeBC · February 2026. Accessed 3 September 2026
- Report a workplace injury or illness · WorkSafeBC · Accessed 3 September 2026
- College of Health and Care Professionals of BC · CHCPBC · Accessed 3 September 2026
KEEP READING
More from the WorkSafeBC guides.
- Claims and paperwork
Filing the claim and your first visit
Who reports what, the deadlines that actually bind, and what to bring to appointment one.
READ - Timelines, extensions and comparisons
Extensions and what comes next
What happens at 10 visits or 5 weeks, how an extension is requested, and why it can be refused.
READ - Timelines, extensions and comparisons
WorkSafeBC compared with ICBC
Two systems, different rules. Which one applies, and what happens when a crash happens at work.
READ
FROM THE JOURNAL
Related reading from our clinicians.
READY?
Start your WorkSafeBC treatment at any of our five studios.
We accept WorkSafeBC physiotherapy claims and bill WorkSafeBC directly at Lougheed, Coquitlam, Richmond, New Westminster and North Burnaby. No referral needed. Bring your claim number, and if you do not have one yet, call and we will explain how to get it.