Add or update high-cost assistive technology (AT) in a plan approval case

This article provides guidance for a planner delegate to:

understand what to do if there is no quote
check the provider is registered, if needed
add high-cost assistive technology (AT), including replacement
update and remove high-cost assistive technology (AT), including replacement
add delivery and set up costs, if needed.

For low-cost and mid-cost assistive technology, go to articles Add or update low-cost assistive technology in a plan approval case and Add or update mid-cost assistive technology in a plan approval case.

Recent updates

November 2023

Updated to include the need to seek mandatory Technical Advice and Practice Improvement Branch advice for all Dog Guide requests on the new assessment templates.

Before you start

You have:

read and understood Our Guideline – Reasonable and necessary supports (external)
read and understood Our Guideline – Assistive Technology (external)
received Technical Advice and Practice Improvement Branch (TAPI) advice using a PACE internal referral, if needed
referred to the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits (external) if you need to determined if the participant has a diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and requires AT supports

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an assessment and quote for the AT support, or determined the support meets the criteria for replacement AT process
reviewed benchmark prices using AT Item Budget Tool in PANDA
read and understood article Understand the product catalogue
read and understood article Support Categories
checked the request for AT does not relate to a participant requested review (s48 request), a review of a reviewable decision (s100 request) or a complaint about AT supports.

Note: If the request relates to one of the above, you will need to make sure the request is actioned by the relevant business area. Talk with your team leader if you need further advice.

Note: Any new or replacement Dog Guide requests from the new assessment templates being piloted require mandatory TAPI advice. Refer to the Requesting Advice TAPI intranet page for more information.

What if there is no quote?

You need a quote before you can add funding to the participant’s plan. If there is no quote, you can do either of the following:

wait for the quote before you add the funding; or
approve the plan without the quote-required support. When you get the quote, you can commence a plan change to add the support if it meets the NDIS funding criteria.

Check the provider is registered – (Agency managed only)

You must check if the provider is registered if the participants high-cost AT is Agency-managed. For plan-managed or self-managed high-cost AT you can disregard these steps. This is because the participant must use a registered provider if this support category budget is Agency-managed.

Check the support catalogue on our website to check the registration group for the support.
Search for the provider in PACE to check their registration group.
Check the provider is currently registered for the AT support.

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If the provider is not registered for the AT support, add a Plan Meeting Note with the following details:

The provider that quoted for the high-cost AT support is not registered for this support. The participant cannot request this support category be Agency-managed.

Add high-cost AT supports

Review the quote for the cost of the support and any delivery and set-up fees. If the participant requests the high-cost AT be Agency-managed, you need to check the provider is registered for the support. To do this, go to section ‘Check the provider is registered’ in this article. To add high-cost AT funding to a draft budget, complete the following PACE steps:

In the Plan Approval case, select the Draft Budget tab.
Select New Support Category.
Enter Assistive Technology into the Support Category field. Note: The support budget will be locked to Capital.
The Budget Type for this support will default to Stated.
Select the Instalment Type. Note: The Frequency and Plan Duration fields will be locked. To change the plan duration, refer to article Change plan duration.
Enter the Amount of this support. Note: For instalment type ‘regular’ this amount is the monthly amount. PACE will calculate the frequency amount and the total plan amount.
Record the TSP Variance Reason from the drop-down list.
Record Additional Description about why this support is needed. Use template: $xxxx funding for your . Note: These comments will not display on a participants plan. Use these comments to discuss funded supports as part of a plan implementation meeting.
If the support meets all of the NDIS funding criteria under the Justifications heading, select the checkbox.

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Record Justification in the free text field.

For some supports, this might automatically populate. For more information about recording justifications, refer to article Add budget justifications.

Note: This field has a character limit of 3000. Certain special characters in this field may cause an error, this is generally caused when copying justifications from SAP CRM into PACE. If you see the characters |%, you will need to remove these before you can select save.

If you’re using evidence to support your justification, select the Evidence Used checkbox.

Select the Evidence Type from the drop-down list.

if the Evidence Type is Document, go to step 13
if the Evidence Type is Other, go to step 14.

Enter the Evidence Link name. You can view linked evidence on the Evidence tab of the Plan Approval case. To learn more about linking evidence, refer to article Add and link evidence to a case.

Enter the Evidence Explanation into the free text field.

If you need to add more evidence to support your justification, select the checkbox Add further evidence links and repeat step 12.

Select Save.

Update high-cost AT supports

Update high-cost AT funding

To update high-cost funding in a draft budget, complete the following PACE steps:

In the Plan Approval case, select the Draft Budget tab.
Select Assistive Technology from the Stated Budget items.
The Budget Type for this support will default to Capital.
Select the Instalment Type. Note: The Frequency and Plan Duration fields will be locked. To change the plan duration, refer to article Change plan duration.
Enter the Amount of this support. Note: For instalment type ‘regular’ this amount is the monthly amount. PACE will calculate the frequency amount and the total plan amount.

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Record the TSP Variance Reason from the drop-down list.
Record Additional Description about why this support is needed.
- Use template: $xxxx funding for your .
- Note: These comments will not display on a participant’s plan. Use these comments to discuss funded supports as part of a plan implementation meeting.
If the support meets all of the NDIS funding criteria under the Justifications heading, select the checkbox.
Record Justification in the free text field. For some supports, this might automatically populate. For more information about recording justifications, refer to article Add budget justifications.
- Note: This field has a character limit of 3000. Certain special characters in this field may cause an error, this is generally caused when copying justifications from SAP CRM into PACE. If you see the characters |%, you will need to remove these before you can select save.
If you’re using evidence to support your justification, select the Evidence Used checkbox.

Select the Evidence Type from the drop-down list.
- if the Evidence Type is Document, go to step 12
- if the Evidence Type is Other, go to step 13.

Enter the Evidence Link name. You can view linked evidence on the Evidence tab of the Plan Approval case. To learn more about linking evidence, refer to article Add and link evidence to a case.
Enter the Evidence Explanation into the free text field.

If you need to add more evidence to support your justification, select the checkbox Add further evidence links and repeat step 11.

Select Save.

Add delivery and set-up costs

Use this procedure when cost of delivery and set up is not included in the overall cost shown on the quote.

Use the AT Item Budget Tool in PANDA to determine funding.

Open the intranet and select NDIS PANDA and PANDA live under My Links.
Select View PANDA.

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Type AT Budget in the search bar and select search. Select AT item budget tool. Search for the relevant delivery item for the high cost AT support. For example, Mobility Equipment Delivery – Set Up/Training. When adding funding for delivery and set up costs, use the following template in the Additional Description section:

$xxxx funding for your delivery and set/up costs for .

Remove high cost AT funding

To remove high-cost AT funding in a draft budget, complete the following PACE steps:

In the Plan Approval case, select the Draft Budget tab.
Select Assistive Technology from the Stated Budget items.
If removing the support item, scroll to bottom and select Remove Support from Budget.
Select Yes to Are you sure you want to remove?
Select Save.

Next steps

Check if you need to include the following supports:

Repairs, maintenance and short term rental. To do this, go to article Add or update assistive technology (AT), maintenance, repairs, rentals and trials in a plan approval case.
Capacity building budget for the AT advisor. To do this, go to article Add or update capacity building assistive technology (AT) supports in a plan approval case.
If you have added or updated high-cost AT funding, you will need to make a fund management decision. Refer to article Make fund management decision.
If you need to add further supports, refer to article Change the draft budget.

Article topics and case names – internal use only

Topics

This article relates to the following topics:

t_assistivetechnology
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t_planchanges
t_reasonableandnecessary

Case names

You can use this guidance for the:

case_planapproval
case_planchange
case_technicaladvice

Version control

Version	Amended by	Brief Description of Change	Status	Date
3.1	RWN540	Guidance updated for when to request mandatory TAPIB advice for dog guide requests on new assessment templates	DRAFT	2023-11-03
3.2	BCK161	Peer review	DRAFT	2023-11-03
3.3	RWN540	Peer review feedback actioned	DRAFT	2023-11-06
3.4	EJW711	EL1 review	DRAFT	2023-11-07
4.0	JS0082	Class 1 Approval	APPROVED	2023-11-07

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