Knives out on costs: NDIS prices slashed

The nation’s disability agency has revealed it will slash the maximum fees service providers such as physiotherapists and dieticians can charge NDIS participants.

The National Disability Insurance Agency says it will lower price limits for a range of services in an effort to bring them back ‘in line’ to what Australians not on the NDIS were paying.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

The nation’s disability agency has revealed it will slash the maximum fees service providers such as physiotherapists and dieticians can charge NDIS participants, in a decision that marks the most significant effort to curb costs of the nearly $50bn-a-year scheme since a major set of reforms that passed last year.

As part of its annual review into scheme costs, the National Disability Insurance Agency on Wednesday said it would lower price limits for a range of services in an effort to bring them back “in line” to what Australians not on the NDIS were paying. “This year’s review was … informed by the largest and most comprehensive collection of data to support its therapy pricing recommendations – covering more than 10 million additional transactions,” an NDIA statement said. “Benchmarking now includes Medicare data, private health insurance claims and data from 13 comparable government schemes.”

As part of the changes, to be introduced by July 1, the agency said the price limit for physiotherapists would be dropped by $10 to a new national price limit of $183.99 per hour. The NDIA will also lower the price limit for supports delivered by dietitians and podiatrists by $5 to a new national price limit of $188.99 per hour for both services. “Therapy supports represent a significant proportion of NDIS funding. With $2.4bn in payments in the six months to December 2024, nearly 413,000 participants access therapy supports which account for more than 10 per cent of total Scheme spend,” the NDIA said.

“Improved data showed many of the NDIS therapy pricing limits are now out of step with broader market rates, in some cases exceeding them by up to 68 per cent.”

The changes follow reforms passed last year that gave the NDIA more power to intervene in NDIS plans and setting out clearly what can and can’t be claimed with NDIS funding.

“Data confirms that people with disability have been paying ‘NDIS premiums’ for certain therapies, while those same services are being delivered broadly to other Australians at lower rates,” the NDIA said.

“These pricing adjustments are a big step towards further safeguarding participants to ensure they are charged the same as anyone else.”

The changes follow questions over how Labor will reach its target of cutting annual NDIS growth from 15 per cent to 8 per cent, or else face the scheme blowing out to $100bn a year by the end of the decade. As part of its review, the NDIA confirmed it would remove the state and territory “differentiated pricing arrangement” for physiotherapy and psychology, with maximum psychology prices lifting by $10 to $232.99 per hour.

Disability support workers will also be able to charge clients more per hour, with an increase of just under 4 per cent, in line with minimum wage increases in other care sectors.

The NDIA’s decision was panned by providers and disability advocates, who accused the agency of “abandoning” the sector and risking thousands of providers closing their doors. Disability Intermediaries Australia, the national peak body for NDIS support co-ordinators and plan managers, said the announcement was “outrageous”.

“The NDIA is asking providers to keep the lights on while cutting off the power,” DIA chief executive Jess Harper said.

“It’s reckless, gutless, and downright damaging. They’ve ignored fair pay, ignored independent advice, and ignored the human cost of their actions. How many more providers have to collapse before they listen?”

Mr Harper also slammed what he said was a $35m in plan management funding, through the removal of “critical establishment” and rural and remote pricing differences. The NDIA’s decision comes as the number of NDIS participants clocked over 700,000 for the first time in the last quarter, with one in ten boys with autism or developmental delay using the scheme.

As part of efforts to ensure funding was being allocated correctly, the agency has since late last year been sending thousands of “reassessment letters” each month to participants, nearly 50 per cent of which consequently had their plans revoked.

Dietitians Australia, which this week warned cuts in supports were leading to NDIS participants presenting at hospital with complications, raised alarm with the impact the changes would have on disabled Australians.

“We are deeply concerned about the impact this will have on NDIS Participants’ ability to access the dietetic services they need for their function,” Dieticians Australia president Fiona Willer said.

“We have already raised concerns this week that people with disability are presenting at the hospital with nutrition care issues, as they have nowhere else to go.

“We cannot afford to leave people with disability at risk in this way.”