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No one wants to feel like a number. And disability service providers don’t want their customers to feel like one either. But the difficult reality is that while support organisations would love to be using their resources to focus on more personalised services for their customers — a huge chunk of time gets eaten up by managing the numbers instead.
We’re talking of course about the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2021-22 (previously the NDIS Price Guide). The bewildering beast of a catalogue that outlines the complex volume of codes you need to manage NDIS invoicing. Just when your team has it nailed, it changes. Again. And often.
The hefty administration required to stay on top of the numbers and changes squeezes resources at provider organisations of every size and takes focus away from where you want it — on your customers.
But, there is one way to overcome the struggle of invoicing NDIS services: connected workflows. Let’s dive into what that is and what it means for disability service providers.
How connected NDIS invoicing can help providers boost admin efficiency and get paid daily.
At GoodHuman, we have been working with NDIS service providers across Australia to create a solution to their billing woes. What we uncovered is that building margins into pricing is an arduous task. There is no room for inefficiency of any kind — and yet the process of administering pricing arrangements itself is wildly inefficient. Worse still, submitting invoices with an error forces many service providers to operate at a loss while teams hunt for answers.
Overwhelmingly, the work required to stay up to date with the NDIS and cross-check line items against each customer’s service agreement means that invoices are taking weeks or even months to be paid.
When GoodHuman looked to tackle the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, we saw that it required a lot more than just good invoicing software. The complex nature of service codes and individual service agreements requires a completely connected solution. So that’s what we built.
GoodHuman is a platform that connects the dots between your customers, frontline workers, and administrators. Connected workflows mean that bookings, workforce management, customer goals, and invoicing are all connected. When a customer booking is created, line items are informed by the customer’s digital service agreement and calculated based on the service provided, time, day, location, and support level required. Information provided by the frontline worker including expenses and travel claims are also included. This connected workflow enables you to stay in sync with the pricing arrangements and price limits and charge the correct fee for every service, every time — on time.
This level of efficiency and connection means that invoices can be processed daily. GoodHuman eliminates the lag between when services are provided and invoiced.
By linking invoicing with real-time bookings, workforce management, and customer goals and service agreements, there are no more gaps. Invoice processing and bulk uploads that used to take hours per week can now be completed in a matter of minutes.
How automated workflows can keep you in sync with the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits
The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits is built right into GoodHuman’s platform, which includes rolling out changes in real-time. And because the connected workflows link to both the most current pricing regulation and each customer’s service agreement, you no longer need to scramble to keep track of how every update affects your services and update all the NDIS line item codes. Here are just a few examples of how GoodHuman automates pricing arrangements and price limits changes:
1. If an NDIS line item code changes:
No need to update hundreds of bookings manually, GoodHuman will automatically roll out every change from the moment it comes into effect — even if it’s smack-bang in the middle of a booking. Because price limits and pricing arrangement updates are implemented to start at a certain date and time, GoodHuman ensures that the price ticks over in real-time, charging the correct rate for each period, even if it splits through a booked service time. And because it’s linked to your rostering and service agreements, factors like location and intensity are also taken into account for absolute accuracy.
2. If an NDIS line item code is removed:
GoodHuman detects when a line item has been removed from the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits and reassigns it to another related item that the customer has been approved for in their service agreement. This is then applied to every future booking, ensuring that your invoicing remains accurate, always. Without a connected workflow, a team member would need to manually find every client affected by the line item change, update them to a new one, and manage each booking that it will affect. With many customers receiving daily care, this could impact hundreds of bookings per person.
3. If a new NDIS line item code is added:
Where a new line item is implemented, GoodHuman can apply the new line item to any eligible booking. For example, if a new line item increases the cap for a high-intensity service, the system would only apply the new code to customers with complex needs that specify eligibility in their service agreement. This is the kind of addition that would normally be left unchanged by service providers due to the administrative workload, but could result in being able to afford more training for staff providing these high-intensity services.
The platform automatically defaults to the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits and sends a simple notification when changes are rolled out so that you’re always up to date. If you prefer some more flexibility and control, administrators are also given the ability to edit line items when creating a service, so you can easily manage exceptions and custom pricing.
And if an error is made, the system can flag these for review rather than finding out after the NDIA bounces invoices back unpaid. Getting visibility on these errors upfront will save the resources wasted on submitting incorrect invoices, as well as allowing your team to see what needs to be fixed.
How connected workflows improve NDIS invoicing for your customers too
With a connected platform, customers and plan managers get a better NDIS invoicing experience too. Instead of waiting for the mail to arrive long after a service has taken place, customers connected on GoodHuman's NDIS software can approve invoices in a tap. Everything works together to speed up the process from start to finish.
Ready to see our connected platform in action? Watch a 2-minute demo to see how GoodHuman can transform your workflows and do away with the friction getting in the way of delivering the best outcomes for people.
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