This week, I'm breaking down the levels of Assistive Technology within the current 2018 NDIS Assistive Technology Strategy. I'll also give you my insights into the current process the NDIS undertakes when you submit an AT request. |
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Hey, it’s Gail here. Today I want to share with you a little bit of the information that I have about the NDIS assistive technology strategy. And what that means for you and helping your clients to get the assistive technology that they need, to be able to help them meet their needs.
So, I'm going to talk today about the current assistive technology procedure and policies. These, the NDIS has said, that this is going to be changing in the future, and they have some trials going ahead. But, regardless of that, you have clients right now that you need to see and support, so I thought I’d fill you in on what the process is at the moment, so that you can get in and help your clients.
So, the current NDIS assistive technology policy is both a risk-based and cost-based process. So, for pieces of equipment that I consider to be low-risk and low-cost, this is their level 1 strategy, and they have four levels. You can have a look at the AT complexity levels on the NDIS website. Participants can go out and purchase them on their own, they generally have some funding available in their core budget. And if they're self-managing, this is really easy for them to be able to go out, buy the equipment off the shelf, usually it doesn't require any modifications or very much training other than what the sales person can do, and then they're right to go.
If they are not self-managing that part of their budget, the core budget and the consumables budget, then it's a little bit tricky because they need to find a provider registered in that category, who sells that equipment. Which makes it a little bit more challenging for people to be able to get the equipment they need.
The second category is level 2. This is for relatively low, maybe slightly higher costs, but still relatively low costs for simple equipment that may need a little bit more training but may not need a professional to do that training, but they may. It really depends on the person's individual needs and their complexity, and their understanding of their equipment, or that they've used that equipment before. Again, they can purchase that from their consumables budget, and `then it depends whether they are self-managing or not, how easy that is for them to spend it at the moment.
The levels 3 and 4, and I think these are the ones that are most critical for allied professionals, because these require our health professionals to be involved in the assessment and support for the person. And, they generally require a report and quote to go to the NDIS so that they can purchase it. It tends to be equipment that's either more expensive, or more complex, or their client’s needs are more complex, in order to get the right equipment. The funding tends to go into the capital budget, and that's allocated to ones purchasing larger pieces of equipment. So, in level 3 and 4 the process is the same for both, although the complexity of equipment might vary, is that the person you need to do trials for equipment usually, or at least consider a range of equipment, including mainstream and specialized equipment.
You need to consider whether it’s reasonable and necessary for the NDIS first of all to be funding this equipment, it's not better funded from a different funding bodies, such as educational health in particular. And, it needs to meet the person's goals as well.
As health professionals, I know that we all do that. So, the process from there is once you have trialled one or two or more pieces of equipment, and you determine what is best for that person, you write your report, and I'll speak a bit about what to put in the report in one of my next videos. And that gets submitted by email at this stage, back to the NDIS, to the inquiries line, and then the planner can have a look at it.
This usually triggers a plan review, so it can take a little bit of time because we know plan reviews take some time at the moment. And the planner then has a look at it.
Now, if the planner can tell from the report, whether or not it is reasonable and necessary, for the NDIS for fund it, they can then fund it straight away. However, if the planner can't tell, which is quite often because there are pieces of equipment we're funding that are quite complex, and in order to write our report we need to use some complex terms and complex reasoning.
The Planner isn't always skilled in being able to decipher those, and so it goes to another team who then review the report and then decide to approve or not approve based on their understanding or reasonable if necessary, and you can mention you have provided in your report.
The NDIS has knowledge that this is a very lengthy process, and that's unnecessarily so, but at the moment it does take a bit of time for that team to review the vast number of reports that they need to review and then to give approval and pull the funding for the person to be able to purchase the equipment, once it's been approved.
So that's the current process, I'll talk in my next video a bit about what about you can put in reports to support clients needing those level 3 and 4 complex equipment, to be able to help them, to be able to get the right equipment.
And next up, I'll also talk about some of the proposed changes the NDIS is planning and trialling so you can know about what might be coming up in the future. I'd love to hear from you guys though, let me know if you have - prescribing equipment, if you are having success with writing your reports, if you’ve got any tips, share them here as well. People need to know what's working and what's not.
If you're completely confused by the whole process, let me know. And let me know if you're not, if it's working for you and you've got a good process, that is helping your clients get the equipment they need to achieve their outcomes. Include it in the comments, this is part of our community building, and sharing for everybody, so your comments can help other people get the information they need to be able to support their clients. Look forward to joining you in the conversation and I'll speak to you soon. Bye
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