This article provides an overview of how we approach NDIS pricing updates.
As well as annual updates, the NDIS makes ad hoc changes to pricing rules and rates throughout the year. Making sure that these updates are integrated accurately and efficiently is a process that requires ongoing refinement. This article explains:
How we apply pricing updates
The pricing update process usually begins with an NDIS announcement. This can either be:
- a notification of what will be changing in an annual update, or
- an ad hoc announcement about changes made to resolve particular issues.
We monitor a range of channels to try to find out about proposed changes as early as possible. However, some updates are intended to make rapid improvements to the scheme, and can arrive with minimal notice.
If the announcement includes enough time and detail to help us start planning, we begin analysing the proposed changes to determine the potential:
- impact to clients
- impact to in-progress development, and
- risks related to changing the affected areas of the system.
We then send out a notification that we're aware of the changes and working on a solution.
As soon as we get access to the relevant NDIS Price Guide and Support Catalogue, we perform a deeper analysis. We deconstruct the pricing documentation so that it can be integrated into the Lumary system. This is a complex process that can be further affected if the NDIA has made subtle changes to the document structure or format that are not included in the version history.
We then build a package and deploy it to our testing environment. Our quality team perform tests to check that the latest changes have been applied correctly.
Once the package meets our quality standards, it's deployed to customer production orgs.
The end dates of previous rates will usually be updated as part of this step. This will mean only the latest rates will be available for new service agreements. Existing service agreements that use automated processes will continue to apply expired rates unless the Substitute New NDIS Rates checkbox has been ticked in Lumary settings. This setting enables the system to automatically apply the latest rate available.
Customers are notified once the update has been applied and the new rates are ready to use.
If the update has introduced new service line items, a system administrator will need to link these services to the sites where they are delivered. Find out how to link a service to a site.
When do NDIS pricing updates happen?
The initial expectation was that the NDIA would update pricing at the end of each financial year. However, as the scheme has rapidly evolved, updates have been more frequent. In 2019, there were updates in February, October and December, as well as the annual update in July.
As indicated above, the update process begins as soon as the NDIS Price Guide and Support Catalogue is made available. This may even be after the effective date of a funding change. The time required to complete the process will depend on the extent of the changes required to meet any new rules and pricing logic.