NDIS pricing changes 'incredibly cruel' says remote mobile therapy provider
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Keryn Smith says without physio she would not be able to live independently. (ABC Gippsland: Danielle Kutchel)
Allowance cuts to the National Disability Insurance Scheme could see therapists forced to cancel their programs or charge clients more, according to a regional physiotherapist.
The NDIS released its annual pricing review last week, revealing a reduction in the hourly rate for certain allied health therapies from July 1.
The travel rates charged by allied health professionals will be cut by half.
Helen Lowe is the director of Through Life Physio in Warragul, about 90 minutes south-east of Melbourne.
She said the changes had come as a "complete shock" and would directly impact rural and regional therapy providers and their clients.
"There's been next to no consultation with our professional bodies for physio, OT (occupational therapy) and speech pathology who have all been affected by that 50 per cent price cut to travel," Ms Lowe said.
Ms Smith and Helen Lowe are worried the price rises will put physio out of reach. (ABC Gippsland: Danielle Kutchel)
An NDIS spokesperson said the changes brought the prices paid by NDIS clients into line with those paid through other schemes like Medicare or private health insurance.
But Ms Lowe said the services provided to NDIS participants cost more because they were more complex and required longer appointments compared with standard physiotherapy services provided to regular patients.
By benchmarking costs against standard therapy services, Ms Lowe said the NDIS had "simply done the maths wrong".
She said allied health professionals working on NDIS cases were already underpaid compared to others, and for her business the changes would result in a loss of $34,000 a year.
'Physio changed my life'
Keryn Smith is a Warragul resident living with an acquired brain injury.
She has been working with Ms Lowe for 13 years, and in that time she said she had been able to regain some control and function over her muscle movements and balance.
Using a walking frame she is now able to walk with slight support.
"Physio changed my life," she said.
Ms Smith says physio has helped her gain control of her movements. (ABC Gippsland: Danielle Kutchel)
Ms Smith said she too was disappointed about the changes to physiotherapy pricing, which could mean she has to reduce the amount she undertakes each week.
"I'm p*ssed off. Physio has been important, [but] the NDIS thinks physio is unimportant," she said.
"If I didn't have physio I couldn't live here by myself."'
Businesses forced to choose
Ms Lowe's business employs eight practitioners who travel around West Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley, visiting clients at schools, kindergartens and in their homes.
She said travel was essential for the team.
"To do good disability physiotherapy you need to go where people are, not just bring them into your comfortable clinic," she said.
"Travel is not an optional thing, it's not a luxury. It's essential."
She believes many allied health businesses in rural and regional areas would simply cancel appointments if they were unable to bear the new costs.
She is now struggling to make a choice — charging a gap fee to NDIS clients that they will need to pay out of their own pocket, or face losing more than $30,000 a year.
She said she was unable to absorb the cost through her business and clients with disability on limited incomes would be unable to pay any extra.
"It's such an insult to us as practitioners that the NDIS thinks this is OK, and it is incredibly cruel on NDIS participants," Ms Lowe said.
A human rights issue
Gippsland Disability Advocacy chief executive Leanne Wishart said NDIS participants living in regional, rural and remote Gippsland already faced additional disadvantages due to their distance from services.
Already she knows of a provider who has notified its clients that it will no longer be able to provide services to them due to not being able to recoup the costs.
She said it was likely other providers would follow suit.
"Effectively this creates an even greater inequity in access to NDIS services and breaches the rights of people with disability living in regional, rural and remote areas to have equal access to services," Ms Wishart said.
"It's outlined in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the United Nations Rights of Persons with Disabilities."
Benchmarking the data
In a statement, a spokesperson for the National Disability Insurance Agency said this year's pricing review had been benchmarked with fees paid through Medicare, private health insurance and other government schemes.
"In some cases, the data showed NDIS price limits significantly exceeded the market rate by up to 68 per cent," the spokesperson said.
They added that participants had told the NDIS that "excessive travel claims" ate into their plans.
"The updated therapy travel-claiming rules encourage more efficient scheduling by providers and provide clear cost expectations for participants to help them get better value from their funding," the spokesperson said.
"For participants living in remote areas, therapists can receive a 40 per cent above rate price for services and this loading is 50 per cent for therapy provided in very remote areas."
Written by Danielle Kutchel, ABC News.
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