Injured patients will be charged a part-payment from November 15, similar to the system that existed before 2005.
Then, patients paid about $15 a consultation and the new part charges are expected to be about the same, depending on fees set by individual providers.
Reported industry concerns include possible patient reluctance to seek treatment and a drop in custom.
Physiotherapists might then find it harder to get work and be more easily lured to higher paid jobs in Australia.
However, the Government and ACC spokesmen have said free physiotherapy has not led to more rapid recovery for clients.
Mrs Rutledge acknowledged the changes could affect her next year, but said she would be prepared for them.
Her business had been sustainable before the free system was introduced and should remain so.
While some people would not sniff at paying the part charge, others might need to consider putting money aside for health care or taking out insurance to cover the part-charges, she said.
"I don't think people rush to the physio now because it is free, but I think the volume will reduce over the next year, until people get used to paying . . . But the guts of it is, physiotherapists are there for the community and are the first port of call.
"We have been here for a long time in the community, supporting and helping people get better . . . ACC is still a very good system," she said.
Mrs Rutledge is an experienced sports rehabilitation and injury prevention specialist and the physiotherapy co-ordinator for the New Zealand Winter Olympics high-performance programme.
She employs between seven and 14 staff, depending on the season.
She and two of her staff - Andrew Duff and Sheryl Dickinson - have been selected to work with the Winter Olympics team next year, alongside Wanaka GP, Dr Simon Brebner.
Mrs Rutledge said the physio changes were indicative of the Government tightening up its systems throughout the ACC organisation following a budget blow-out.
"Physios did not vote for full payment when it changed. It was offered to us. The reason was to get people back to work quickly," she said.
One of her concerns about full payment was that it had devalued the work done by physiotherapists.
But New Zealand's focus on prevention, rehabilitation and return to work had been commented on favourably at the World Injury Prevention Conferences she had attended in Norway last year.
Under the present Cost of Treatment Regulations, ACC pays physiotherapists $24.48 per consultation, or up to $61.47 per hour.
The new part-charge is expected to be the difference between those amounts and the amount a provider normally charges for a treatment.
ACC Minister Nick Smith announced the changes in March, saying he believed the free physiotherapy system was not working and had contributed to ACC's increased liabilities of $10 billion in three years.
When introduced, the care was expected to cost $9 million, but was now costing $139 million and projected to rise to $225 million by 2011-12.
