Earlier this week, I went to an information session held by the NDIS about the new PACE system coming in later this year. So, if you're seeing this video or post any later than maybe mid August 2023 there's every chance that this  won't be current anymore.

But for now, I want to share some of the highlights with you! Just keep in mind that I’m also assuming that you’ve seen the basic information that came out earlier in the year, for example that it will roll out “late 2023”, they’ve been trialling it in Tassie since November last year, and there’ll be bulk uploads only (no individual claims), and no more service bookings!

PACE Information Session Highlights

Overall, if you do have a chance to go to one of these PACE information sessions in person (or at least online) I would highly recommend it. A huge portion of it was answering questions from Providers, and they had also built into the presentation answers to the questions they had received the most in other sessions. I’m not sure if the same guy is going to be at every session, but the one that was at Newcastle this week really knew his stuff and handled all the questions really well and was open to taking feedback on board as well. So it's really worth getting to one of those sessions if you have concerns.

Changes from Tasmania and Increased NDIA Control

So some of the main points that I took note of was that they are already making changes since the Tasmania trial. One of the big things he said was that part of the reason the current system is so clunky and awful and hard to use is that it was set up by Services Australia and the NDIA actually had very little control over how it works and haven't been able to make the changes that they've needed to and that's why they're changing to this new system, which they will have a lot more control over to make changes as things do or don't work well.

It's encouraging but depending on how skeptical or optimistic you are about the NDIS, it's definitely a wait and see what actually comes to be and how it will work. 

National Rollout and Access to PACE System

Something that surprised me was they actually gave an actual date for when the national rollout will begin! So  participants having new plans after the 30th of October will likely be in the new PACE system, which is exciting and scary! We actually already have access to the new system, it’s just that there is not much to see yet until participants are added. Log into Proda and below the normal purple NDIS tile, Check out the white “myNDIS Provider portal tile just under Available services.

Impact on Unregistered and Registered Providers

A key thing to note is that for providers that are not registered, very little will change. If anything the only people that it will affect are unregistered support coordinators that are working with plan and self managed participants. For support coordination, you will get access to this new system to have increased visibility on funding and reports and being able to submit reports online. And for registered providers, nothing will really change for your plan and self managed billing.

No More Service Bookings!

But the biggest change that you could tell in the room that everybody was the most nervous and concerned about, was the fact that there will be no more service bookings. I was definitely interested in how this would work. 

So, the good news is that all your existing participants that you have current service bookings with will most likely be added into the new system with you as being listed as one of their endorsed or what they are calling “my  providers” , which will streamline claims going through. So that was very promising. It will be up to participants or their nominees to change who their preferred providers are to let claims go through without any delays. And then if you aren't listed as a preferred provider, for most funding categories you can still submit claims, but the participant will have the opportunity to question a claim before it gets processed. They don't have the ability to reject it. But if they flag it, it will then be reviewed and you'll have the opportunity to provide proof that that support was delivered. And then it can still be processed but it will just take longer. And yes the length of time for payments to be processed is a big concern here. Even being a “my Provider” the timeline will be 7-10 days instead of the current 1-2. Cashflow will be challenged for sure and something to try and start building a buffer for right now if you can.

Payment Processing and Funding Visibility

So the other big concern around removing service bookings was not being able to tell if a participant had enough funding left in their plan when starting services. And that was asked in a number of different ways by different people throughout the session. The response was that if you get consent from the participant, you will be able to have some visibility of funding. They didn't talk about or show what level of visibility that would be and how exactly that would work. But that was the reassurance that was given. 

So the big takeaway from that was that when you're signing up new clients, to make sure you:

1. have a process in place for intake and onboarding, and include in your welcoming information encouraging them to add you as their providers in the system and also

2. a way of getting that consent to be able to have that visibility of the information that you need.

NDIA Check-ins

The other step that will apparently be added by the NDIA will  be more check-ins and monitoring where there may be  overutilization and under-utilisation of funding and checking in with participants if that's happening to - in theory - pick up on if plans are gonna run short on funds. To me this sounds great in theory but I know a lot of people will be skeptical until we actually see that happen. The question was definitely raised about whether there'll be more NDIA staff available to manage these check-ins and the extra manual claims that will be happening when funds run out because can't see what's left in the service booking. This is the biggest question mark that can only really be answered when it comes to pass.

Billing Administration and Challenges

In terms of how it will affect us doing the billing admin is that there will be less work for us in setting up and managing service bookings. But then, we'll need those processes in place to have the best chance of being set up as a  “my provider” and getting the consent for viewing funding. 

We’ll need to be claiming more regularly to avoid bigger sums sitting outstanding if there is a problem with funding, and there may be more follow up needed at the back end chasing up those problematic claims. 

 We will see once it gets going. It'll take 18 months for all the participants to be changed over to the PACE system as they get new plans. So that will mean potentially doing things in two different systems over that 18 months - I don’t have a clear understanding of that part yet. So that could mean more work just in that rollout period. 

Future Outlook

So it may not be perfect when it first rolls out but I do get a bit of a feeling that it will be something that will evolve. It won't just be “here it is, deal with it.” I think if there's enough noise if something's not working properly, they will have the ability to to improve it.

So there are my thoughts! It's gonna be an interesting end to 2023. But we're planning on taking it in our stride and that's absolutely part of what we do is to work with different technologies and figure out the processes to make it work for us and our provider clients, so however it turns out, we'll figure it out, and we will continue! Watch this space and I’ll see you soon!