RESPONSE TO C-POS QUERY
Disability Intermediaries Australia has received a response to the query submitted to NDIA on behalf of our members. The NDIA Request for Information in relation to a Claims at Point of Support (C-POS) solution contained phrasing that raised concerns about Plan Management remaining in the Scheme moving forward.
DIA queried:
The RFI document states at Part A, Section 3 Statement of Requirement, Paragraph 3.2.1 (b):
“Pay all Providers directly. Participants with Self-Managed funding and Plan Managers would no longer play the role of financial intermediaries.”
Many Registered Plan Management Providers (RPMPs) call themselves “Financial Intermediaries” this is because this was the original title for RPMPs under the NDIS, further many NDIA artefacts and public statements (inc senate estimates) still refer to Plan Managers as Financial Intermediaries.
Can the NDIA please confirm it does not intend to remove or dissolve Plan Management?
NDIA Response:
The NDIA confirms and re-iterates that the NDIA does not intend to remove or dissolve the role of Plan Management in the NDIS Scheme as a result of introducing C-POS. The NDIA recently revised the overall payments strategy to encompass a cross-channel /multi-channel approach that will continue to allow claims against NDIS funds (payment requests) through a number of existing, emerging and new channels including the myplace participant and provider portals, participant mobile app, Provider APIs, C-POS and e-invoice.
The logic behind this approach is that participants and providers, including plan managers, will have the choice to make claims in the most convenient and efficient way possible for each of the many disparate scenarios that require an NDIS payment request to be submitted, while at the same time providing the NDIA with better visibility of claims and payments, and reducing payment errors and fraud across the scheme.
Advantages of C-POS:
- Participants with Plan Managed funding are able to make claims and get approval at the Point Of Support (POS), and view budget position in real time, without the need to forward invoices to a plan manager for manual processing. For claims made using C-POS Self-Managed participants will no longer have to pay for supports they have received up front from their own funds then claim them back as a re-imbursement.
- Participants have increased choice of providers and services due to increase in market supply. Enabling providers to have claims approved in real time at POS, with overnight payment guaranteed, is expected to attract new providers to the market and encourage existing providers to expand the range of services offered.
- Participants will have access to wider range of value add services provided by plan managers. For claims made through C-POS Plan Managers will no longer endure the processing overhead of manual claims, enabling them to focus on providing value add services including capacity building, building financial and organisational skills, enhancing participants ability to direct their supports and develop self-management capabilities.
For more information and other questions and answers, please read the full addendum.