Introduction by Croakey: The Federal Government’s pricing changes to the NDIS will hurt the quality of services for people living with disability and threatens even their availability, warns the Chief Executive Officer of MS Australia, Rohan Greenland.
From 1 July, the NDIS’s managing agency has lowered the prices that participants can be charged for certain therapies and cut travel subsidies for allied health professionals.
Greenland says the move risks the viability of some service providers and will actively encourage allied health professionals to walk away from the NDIS.
MS Australia is calling on the Government and the NDIA to urgently consider the impacts of the pricing arrangements and to establish clear independent pricing for the sector.
Rohan Greenland writes:
If the recent National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) pricing announcement left you confused and concerned, you’re not alone.
The 2024-25 NDIS Pricing Review is the very definition of a head scratcher – a series of pricing decisions will negatively impact the quality of services and even their availability.
The changes are likely to force allied health professionals from the sector, force service providers to shut up shop and, of even greater concern, mean people living with disability will no longer be able to access the vital services they require.
Together with the broader sector, MS Australia is gravely concerned about the decision to reduce pricing for essential therapy supports, including physiotherapy, dietetics, and podiatry.
These reductions, along with no increases in support for level 2 and level 3 support coordination and plan management, will put further pressure on our member organisations, who deliver vital and tailored disease-specific services to people living with MS and other neurological conditions.
Widespread concerns
Allied health professional organisations have been quick to mobilise in opposition to the pricing announcement with two separate petitions: one led by the Australian Physiotherapy Association, Dietitians Australia, Australian Podiatry Association and Australian Psychological Society; and one from Occupational Therapy Australia, both attracting strong support.
Almost since day one, way back on October 18, 2022 when the establishment of a formal review into the NDIS was announced, the Government has focused, not on the benefits of the NDIS, but rather the costs. It has argued successfully that, left unchecked, the growth of the NDIS threatens the very sustainability of the scheme itself.
The Government built a narrative that spoke to the need for greater efficiency and accountability, highlighting bad players, fraudulent providers, waste and mismanagement.
However, the Government’s approach to the NDIS and to public health more generally cannot and should not be driven wholly and solely by economic rationalism.
The recent NDIS pricing announcement is the consequence of such a policy, which threatens the viability of providers and actively encourages allied health professionals to walk away from the NDIS.
Australian Greens spokesperson for Disability Inclusion and the NDIS, Senator Jordon Steele-John, shares those concerns, noting, “With the sector already under enormous pressure from the cost-of-living crisis, a reduction in hourly rates could mean professionals leaving the sector altogether and some organisations being forced to shut their doors.”
Broken promise
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), the government body responsible for the NDIS, states, “Our role is to implement the NDIS, which will support a better life for hundreds of thousands of Australians with a significant and permanent disability and their families and carers.”
The recent pricing announcement represents a failure to uphold that pledge.
It is a reminder, if any was needed, of how much reform remains to be actioned, both within the NDIA and the broader disability sector. A reminder, too, that the Government is yet to formally respond to the NDIS Review Final Report, despite promising to do so last December.
MS Australia calls on the Government and the NDIA to urgently consider the impacts of these pricing arrangements and to establish clear independent pricing, including releasing the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority’s review of NDIS pricing.
At the start of the NDIS Review, the Government promised to restore trust and fairness in the scheme.
For Australians with disability, and for Australians living with MS, that promise is not yet fully realised.
Further reading and listening
As reported by Croakey, the National Rural Health Alliance and Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health have called on the Federal Government to reconsider its NDIS pricing changes, warning they would have wide-ranging harmful impacts
MS Australia’s Raw Nerve podcast discussed the NDIS price changes with Dr Rik Dawson, National President of the Australian Physiotherapy Association, Magriet Raxworthy, CEO, Dietitians Australia, and Melanie Kiely, Chief Executive Officer for MSWA.
See Croakey’s archive of articles on the NDIS and health reform
