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 automatically apply the latest rate available (unless the default Lumary DC Settings > Substitute New NDIS Rates setting has been overridden).
Customers are notified once the update has been applied and the new rates are ready to use.
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 2024, there were updates in February and October, 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.
You can see the current status of NDIS pricing in Lumary DC here.