NDIA acts on funding gaps
THE National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has moved to fix funding issues involving gaps between plans for people with a disability that were plaguing providers with cash shortfalls.
But the peak body for disability services says some providers have been waiting more than a year for payments.
The Geelong Advertiser revealed in July that one Victorian provider was left with a $200,000 shortfall as clients were left without funding coverage between plans.
Sources said that due to gaps in plans, providers were left without NDIS funding to provide services to clients.
To fill the funding gaps, providers were forced to provide clients with services on goodwill, leaving them out of pocket, the source said.
The NDIS operates on a noplan, no-funding basis.
National Disability Services (NDS) acting chief executive David Moody said the plan gap issue had since been addressed, with the NDIA updating its myplace portal, used for claims and payment, to allow for funding to continue in the period between the expiry of one plan and the approval of another.
“However, we are aware of a backlog for manual payment requests still awaiting payment from before the portal update,” Mr Moody said.
He said NDS understood some providers were waiting for six months to more than a year for manual payments, with no feedback or acknowledgment from the NDIA.
The out-of-pocket costs could amount to thousands of dollars for providers, Mr Moody said.
The NDIA did not directly address questions from the Addy about what was causing the delays in payments.
A spokeswoman said more than 95 per cent of all provider claims were processed successfully by the NDIA each week.
“For the week ending September 29, the NDIA processed over 662,000 payment requests, valued at over $257 million,” the spokeswoman said.
“Any providers experiencing challenges with payments are encouraged to contact the national provider payment team. This team has been set up specifically to support any provider having difficulties with NDIS claims.”