“That ICPA (Aust) lobbies the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to remove NDIS Providers ability to charge cancellation fees to remote and geographically isolated NDIS recipients for telehealth services when they do not cancel their appointment within seven days of delivery.”
Remote and geographically isolated NDIS recipients who have no option but to use their funding to receive telehealth appoints at access therapy are currently being charged full appointment fees when they are unable to attend appointments due to loss of power or unstable internet services.
Case Study
A Family whose son uses telehealth appointments to access speech and occupational therapy has had to use over $1000 of the child's NDIS Capacity building funding on fees for the 2022-2023 year due to loss of power or unstable internet services on scheduled appointments. Being unable to contact their NDIS provider due to these conditions to cancel these appointments they are automatically billed for the missed appointment. The family does not know when they will be without power, or Internet let alone having seven days’ notice to contact their provider. These billed missed appointments must be declared to the NDIS as a missed or unattended appointment, possibly affecting the child's next review.
