Response to the 2021 NDIS Annual Pricing Review

The APS was pleased to be invited to submit a response to the 2021 NDIS Annual Pricing Review (the APR). The APS noted the concern that the market-based approach under which the Scheme operates has potentially profound consequences for participants and commended the intent of the APR to examine factors associated with NDIS pricing arrangements such as: alignment of therapy services pricing with other comparable government schemes, the private market and competition; service delivery in regional and remote areas; and understanding the different economic conditions and trends in the states and territories.

We recommended:

• Clarifying the pricing arrangements and developing plain English pricing materials to facilitate participant choice and control.
• The NDIA partner with the APS to establish a benchmark for the cost of psychological service delivery in each state to inform this and/or future pricing arrangements reviews.
• A joint NDIA/APS project to understand the factors that impact pricing for service delivery in regional and remote locations and assess the effectiveness of innovations that incentivise service delivery and market deepening in these locations.

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