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The Price Guide and Support Catalogue have been updated again (yes, again!) with a few changes you’ll want to know about. Here’s the lowdown:
NEW SUPPORT TYPE: MEDIUM TERM ACCOMMODATION (MTA)
A new support type has been introduced for people who require transitional accommodation before moving into a more permanent home (the Price Guide gives transition from hospital as an example). MTA is intended to be claimed for periods up to 90 days.
Unlike Short Term Accommodation, the price for MTA only covers the cost of accommodation, with the support hours to be claimed from other parts of the Core budget and food/everyday living costs to be paid at the Participant’s expense.
Reflecting this approach, the MTA price is a flat price of $126.29 per day ($176.81 remote / $189.44 very remote) with no time/date/complexity loading.
SHORT TERM ACCOMMODATION NAME CHANGE AND PRICE INCREASE
Let’s start with the good news – the price of Short Term Accommodation has increased. The price increase varies from $0.03 for Weekday 1:4 up to $343.89 for 1:1 on Public Holidays (see our analysis below).
Now for the news that will be met with less enthusiasm. As you can see from the table above, the word “respite” has made a reappearance in the NDIS vocabulary. The line item has been renamed STA And Assistance (Inc. Respite).
SIX NEW AREAS CLASSIFIED AS REMOTE
As of 1 August, the NDIA classify all regional areas (ie. MMM4-5) areas that are completely surrounded by ‘remote’ or ‘very remote’ areas as ‘remote’ for planning and pricing purposes. This Price Guide update adds an additional six areas to the list:
- Hay South, NSW
- Comet, QLD
- Merredin, WA
- Boulder, WA
- South Boulder, WA
- Victory Heights, WA
LINE ITEM CHANGES FOR DIETITIANS
Apparently the word “dietitian” is spelled with a T at the end, not a C. I didn’t know that before and apparently neither did the NDIA because they had to update the line item name, which meant a new number for the same item. Otherwise business as usual for our foodie friends.
NEW “CORE” ITEMS TO BE CLAIMED ONLY FOR DISABILITY-RELATED HEALTH SUPPORTS
This update unfortunately closes a loophole that was opened on 1 October with the introduction of a range of therapy line items in Core supports by adapting the line item description to include “Provision of care to respond to the disability-related health needs of a participant where that care is not the usual responsibility of the health system.” This means that Participants who wanted to use their Core funding to supplement their non-health related therapy hours will find it harder to do so. At least for the short term, until the NDIA make core and capacity building budgets flexible in July 2020.
