In mid-2022, the NDIA froze price limits for Level 2 and Level 3 support coordination for the third year in a row. How has that decision impacted you and/or your peers, and what effect (if any) has it had on the relationship between support coordinators and the NDIA?
EH – Currently, the impact on myself and other support coordinators is the same – we feel that we are constantly being asked to do more with less. In our industry there seems to be two types of support coordination services:
SC – No impact – as a support coordinator, you continue to show care, the provider can handle the finance side of things, you continue to work with the participant until further notice.
KR – It has made me reconsider continuing with the business. As a company that only offers support coordination, we were made to give our employees a salary increase through the SCHADS Award, yet we were not compensated for these changes. There is not a lot of profit in support coordination, so sometimes we wonder why we are doing this.
ZD – For me, as I work for an NDIS-funded provider, I don’t believe this has had any effect on me or the organisation as a whole. Maybe, if I was working for myself as an independent support coordinator, I may have a different view and it may have affected my relationship with the NDIA.
DB – It hasn’t really affected us. The majority of what we do is recovery coaching. We were pleased to see the price of recovery coaching increase and believe it should be on par with support coordination. Recovery coaching does the same role, plus they have to have expertise and skills in mental health and recovery.
