Challenges in NDIS ICT systems impacting therapy providers

19 September 2018

Joint Standing Committee on the

National Disability Insurance Scheme

PO Box 6100

Parliament House

Canberra ACT 2600

By email: ndis.sen@aph.gov.au

To the Secretariat

RE: Inquiry into NDIS ICT Systems

Thank you for the opportunity to provide a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme’s inquiry into NDIS ICT systems.

Occupational Therapy Australia (OTA) is the professional association and peak representative body for occupational therapists in Australia. As of June 2018, there were more than 20,000 registered occupational therapists working across the government, non-government, private and community sectors in Australia.

Occupational therapists are allied health professionals whose role is to minimise the functional impairment of their clients to enable them to participate in meaningful and productive activities. Occupational therapists particularly work with people with a disability and their families to maximise outcomes in their life domains including daily living, social and community participation, work, learning and relationships. As such, they are key providers of services to many NDIS participants.

OTA members have reported that recent changes to the myplace portal have resulted in an improved experience for providers, however a number of issues do remain. These include:

One of the Independent Pricing Review (IPR) recommendations included a change to the way therapy providers invoice participants for travel. Since the introduction of this change on 1 July, providers can invoice participants for up to 20 or 45 minutes depending on where they are geographically located. Members are reporting challenges with the two decimal places, which is resulting in an under or overpayment of 1-2 cents. This needs to then be adjusted on their accounting system to enable them to reconcile payments.
Ongoing challenges exist when participants sign a service agreement with a provider to make a service booking for an agreed number of hours, only to find that the hours are not available when the provider makes the booking. They may have been allocated to another provider, and it can take several weeks to resolve the issue by emailing the NDIA.
The ‘Provider Finder’ tool on the myplace portal has been a chronic issue. The principles of ‘capacity building’ and ‘choice and control’ that underpin the NDIS convey the importance that is placed on participants being able to source, select and engage with their providers of choice. Despite many attempts to improve the tool, the resource is of limited value due to the significant number of errors in the listings. For example, one occupational therapy

Occupational Therapy Australia Limited ABN 27 025 075 008 | ACN 127 396 945

6 / 340 Gore St. Fitzroy VIC 3065

Ph +61 3 9415 2900   | Fax +61 3 9416 1421   |  Email policy@otaus.com.au   |  Website www.otaus.com.au

practice that is a provider of therapeutic supports is listed as providing ‘Builder Surveyor’ and ‘Orthoptist’ supports. It is vital that the NDIA undertake whatever is necessary to review the listings and ensure this tool is a reliable and up to date source of information.

In addition to the above-mentioned issues, OTA members have reported considerable frustration and challenges. Recently, on two separate occasions, the NDIA made changes to the portal without fully researching what the unintended consequences might be. We refer to examples below:

On 1 July 2018, the NDIA altered existing service bookings to reflect the Price Guide changes. It closed service bookings as of 30 June and developed new service bookings from 1 July. The NDIA did not alert providers that it planned to do this, nor did it advise them after they had. The result was that providers were left with inadequate funds in numerous service bookings, as the NDIA had assumed that therapy providers use the same number of hours per month with each participant. This reflects the NDIA’s failure to fully understand how therapists work.
Further changes introduced as recently as this month require providers to enter a participant’s NDIS number, name and date of birth to make a service booking. We understand that this requirement was introduced in an attempt to limit fraudulent claims. Whilst OTA values the importance of protecting participants’ funds and limiting potentially fraudulent activity, we are again receiving feedback that this change is causing significant challenges for providers in viewing and making service bookings. It is reported that a number of service bookings have reverted back to using the participant’s old NDIS number. This is a further example of the NDIA implementing changes that have negative consequences for providers due to the Agency’s ongoing failure to consult with those who will be affected, or to properly trial an intended change.

OTA sincerely hopes that these issues can be resolved in order to improve the overall NDIS experience for both providers and participants, and reduce instances of delayed services because of IT flaws.