In Australia, almost one in five people have a disability. Of these, one in three has severe or profound core activity limitation. Around 60% of people with disability need assistance with at least one activity in their daily life. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), there will be an estimated increase in the numbers of disabled Australians over the next 15 years, by about 38 per cent, around 632,600 by 2023.
Several government agencies provide support for people with disabilities, including the Department of Social Services and Services Australia (formerly Department of Human Services). In recent years, the government started the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) with the objective to improve support for the people who live with a disability. The good news is you can now simplify your NDIS billing requests and reports with the CareVision platform.
What is NDIS?
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) provides individualised support in Australia for people with a permanent and significant disability that affects their ability to participate in everyday activities. The agency’s objective includes assistance and support for a child or an adult with their daily lives to build their skills and independence and encourage them to join into the community.
According to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the agency will provide more than $22 billion in funding yearly to an estimated 500,000 Australians with disability in the next five years. The NDIS helps give all people with disability information and connections to services in their communities such as medical assistance, community events, recreational activities, educational activities, and guiding them to find out more on what support each territory government gives.
The government also formed the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to help those up until 65 years old – retirees before transitioning into aged care, now implementing NDIS. The clients are individually assessed and assigned to their customised care plan with NDIA.
How does NDIS billing requests work?
NDIS billing is a request for payment made by participants to pay for the relevant NDIS services through their care providers. Different requirements depend on whether a participant is self-managed, plan-managed or NDIA-managed. In the case of registered providers, payment requests allow them to request their services once support has been delivered or provided.
Central to this is understanding that surrounding the NDIS; different support categories are divided into three tiers:
- Core supports the consumer’s services such as transportation, assistance with social, economic and community participation.
- Capital supports the funding for equipment, home or vehicle modifications, or Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA).
- Capacity Building supports the activities to guide an individual with a disability to gain independence, such as improving living arrangements, improving daily living skills or looking for a job.
Providers must understand where their support resides among these three to be able to categorise billings correctly. Aside from the support categories, it is also important to note the other additional costs of the services, such as transportation expenses in remote areas, must be considered. For further information about the specifics of how to set the accurate prices for your billings, see the NDIS Price Guide.
How Can Providers Claim A Payment?
There are necessary steps to set up billing for NDIS participants. The following steps are what should be considered across the organisation when filing an NDIS billing request:
- Participants and Providers Should Be Appropriately Registered
If a participant or a provider is not correctly registered, billing requests can’t be correctly processed in NDIS. That’s why it’s important to ensure participants and providers are registered in the right category. This step also involves checking with the participant’s NDIS plan to ensure that the support category they intend to claim from is included in their care plan.
- Ensure Agreement and Service Approval
Before going ahead with any services, agreements with the participants and providers should take place. This ensures that the participants know what services the NDIS is supporting and the expected costs for each service. After agreements are made, approvals are necessary to confirm the specifics of the service.
- Record Delivered Services
Billing requests are processed after the care service is provided. Registered providers must keep accurate records of all services done for the participants to file for billing requests. It is essential to the reports uploaded to the Provider Digital Access and reviewed by the Provider Payment Assurance Program to claim payments.
Simplify your NDIS billing requests and reports with the CareVision platform.
NDIS claims can be challenging, so looking for ways to make billing more streamlined and straightforward will significantly help your organisation be cost-efficient, save time and increase client satisfaction. One of the easiest ways to achieve this is by using the billing process on care management systems like CareVision, where you can export your data and easily import it to the NDIS PRODA.
As a team dedicated to offering the ultimate care platform for participants in disability, aged care, residential aged care, and retirement living, CareVision aims to assist aged care organisations every step of the way in simplifying their NDIS billing.
Book a demo today to experience CareVision’s seamless solution for NDIS and other care models and explore other platform capabilities.