The freezing of therapy support pricing by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) could force up to a quarter of Australia’s dieticians to limit support for NDIS participants.
Dietitians Australia President Tara Diversi said the NDIA had frozen therapy supports pricing, including for dietitian services, for a fifth consecutive year.
Ms Diversi said, as a result, 25 percent of members reported they planned to stop home and site visits, shorten the number and duration of sessions they offered, cease services to clients with complex conditions and prioritise service delivery outside of the NDIS.
“There is a real risk many NDIS participants will be left without equitable access to the critical dietetic and nutrition supports they need,” she said.
“We are in a situation where the strain on the nutrition and dietetic workforce, and wider allied health community providing supports within the NDIS is becoming unsustainable.”
Dietitians Australia Chief Executive Officer Magriet Raxworthy said their members were finding it increasingly challenging to continue their services and ability to operate in the disability sector, due to significant inflation, higher operational expenses, increased administrative load and ongoing ambiguities in NDIS policies.
Ms Raxworthy said the NDIA had overlooked the economic realities of what it took to ensure high quality, accessible therapy supports were continued for NDIS participants.
“Measures to ensure the sustainability of the NDIS must not jeopardize participants’ access to essential therapy supports including dietitian services,” she said.
Ms Raxworthy said Dietitians Australia was joining the Allied Health Professions Australia community in calling on the Government to increase the prices for therapy supports in line with wage increases, to 3.1 percent, and implement a 1 percent loading for all registered providers.
