When the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) became a national program around 2019-2020, it recognised the challenges support providers faced. These included adjusting administrative tasks, upskilling staff, and learning new systems.
To assist with these transition costs, the NDIS introduced the Temporary Transformation Payment (TTP) for personal care and community access providers. It allowed providers to factor in the cost of running their business with an increased percentage to the hourly rate.
History of the TTP:
It was designed to be temporary and included an annual reduction: The payment amount decreased by 1.5% each year.
It had eligibility requirements:
Providers had to be registered with the NDIS.
Service prices were required to be published publicly.
Contact details needed to be kept up to date on the NDIS provider finder.
Providers had to complete an agency-approved benchmarking survey annually.
Unlike other processes within the NDIS, there was no formal registration required to claim TTP rate.
Providers were also required to be transparent with their customers, discussing their use of the TTP payment and including it in their agreement, explaining the higher rates purpose.
This payment will now end on July 1, 2024, and cannot be claimed by providers after that date. However, you can still claim for any supports provided before the end date.
We've heard on the coordinators grape vine that some providers are preparing to replace TTP with other charges, such as non-face-to-face supports, as an example.
As coordinators you should be aware of these practices. While providers operate on thin margins and losing funding is challenging, it’s not appropriate to compensate by charging customers elsewhere.
If you notice suspicious transactions on a customer’s invoice, check with the provider for an explanation. If they refuse to provide one, help your customer contact the NDIS to file a complaint.
A cautionary tale
Recently, a coordinator reviewed a new quote for their customer, which included the "high intensity rate" over the next twelve months of the customer's plan. When questioned about the need for a higher trained support worker, the provider immediately amended the quote, without acknowledging that the customer did not have high support needs. Whether this was intentional to recoup their costs when they lose the TTP payment, we don't know.
However, without this intervention, the customer would have been overcharged. We always maintain anonymity in our posts, but I can confirm that the company involved was a large, well-known organisation who has been operating for many years.
The subtle pressure from providers to increase their share of participants budgets can further strain the already overwhelmed cost of the NDIS system and have a detrimental affect on the buying power of your customers funding.
If you would like to keep up to date with any of the pricing updates, please click the link:
We wish you well, as always.
The Lama Care Team
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