What is NDIS Plan Management? Essentially, NDIS Plan Management aims to help you with the proper payment of your benefits from your National Disability Insurance (NDIS) scheme. This includes the timely and accurate submission of claim forms, making necessary appointments with your local Social Security disability authority, providing supporting documentation to your caseworker or specialist, and last but not least, ensuring that your application form complies with certain regulations and standards as laid down by the National Disability Association (NDIA). In short, a plan is needed to keep your application moving forward so that it eventually meets all of the needs of the authorities and can be approved.
So how do you play your part in NDIS Plan Management? First and foremost, as a client, you need to understand what is needed to succeed in meeting your goals. The best way to do this is to understand your responsibilities and what is expected of you as a client of the national disability insurance scheme. For example, what is expected of you as a client about timely submission of application forms, submission of proper supporting documentation, making sure that these forms are filled out correctly and accurately as per the requirements of the scheme itself, submitting relevant documents to the appropriate authorities, and last but not least, being able to make timely payments of your benefits. As a client, you also need to understand that these responsibilities are all inter-related and cannot fulfil one without failing the others.
In addition to knowing what is needed, you should also know what is already expected of you. For instance, if you are a self-managed client, you will need to be familiar with the National Disability Services (NDIS) policies and procedures and your plan. As a self-managed client, you will be directly involved in developing the plan and, therefore, will have an even greater responsibility to ensure that the plan meets all its objectives while providing for your needs.
You must also understand how your role can help meet the objectives of the NDIS Plan Management itself.
- First, as a client, you will have to ensure that timely submission of application forms is made, keeping in mind that the delays that may occur will adversely affect the entire plan management process. By keeping track of all your application and related activity, you will also detect any irregularities or errors and report them to the relevant authorities.
- Second, you must ensure the timely submission of relevant invoices by registered providers (RNs). Registered providers are responsible for preparing their monthly statements. They will be responsible for sending these statements to the relevant authority concerned, and they will be expected to send the relevant tax documentation as well.
They must submit these forms in line with their income tax returns. Failure to comply could result in serious tax penalties and charges being brought against the client. In addition, your role as a client will be essential in ensuring that your needs and those of registered providers are met. This can be done by ensuring the timely filing of all your tax returns and providing all relevant documentation required for the application process. In the end, what is more, important is that all these efforts to make sure that your long term goals of disability support are achieved and that everyone has access to guaranteed income support.
As a client, you may also need additional assistance from your NDIS Plan Manager to ensure the scheme’s smooth and easy functioning. If you need this assistance, ask your registered provider to provide regular updates and reminders. For instance, you may want to be informed when payments are due, whether a payment has been skipped or if a certain number of days are allotted to resolve an issue. It is also advisable to have a fixed time to request the plan manager to review your invoices to check for errors and omissions and submit new or corrected bills to meet eligibility requirements.