With three children on National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plans, parents Stacey and Mark Anderson are among many regional Australian families bracing for major disruption.
From July 1, new NDIS pricing changes will come into effect 鈥 including halved travel reimbursements for allied health providers and reduced therapy rates 鈥 putting essential services out of reach for those living far from major centres.
The Andersons live in Wickham and like many regional families they rely on mobile therapists such as speech pathologists, occupational therapists and behavioural support specialists to travel to their home.
With both parents working full-time and part-time shifts, that support has been vital.
鈥淐hase has autism, ADHD, dyslexia and childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), Hunter has CAS and speech delay and Hope has autism and ADHD,鈥 Ms Anderson said.
鈥淪ometimes, they just don鈥檛 like travelling in the car. They play up, and it鈥檚 so much easier if the support comes to us; the kids can go to their rooms, they鈥檙e in an environment they know.鈥
But with therapy travel reimbursements being cut by 50 per cent, and hourly rates for services like physiotherapy, podiatry and dietetics reduced, families like the Andersons fear they鈥檒l be forced to travel long distances just to maintain access.
鈥淚f I鈥檓 at work, Stacey鈥檚 got to take all three kids for an hour appointment in Karratha for one kid,鈥 Mr Anderson said.
鈥淭his is going to affect the kids more.鈥
For the Andersons, the alternative is pulling their children out of school for therapy appointments.
鈥淏ut then, they are missing out on school. By the end of the day after school, they鈥檙e just too tired,鈥 Ms Anderson said.
With the oncoming changes, paediatric service providers in the Pilbara say it will be regional families who will be hardest hit.
鈥淭he implications are massive for families being able to access services, because we as providers can鈥檛 sustain getting out to them with this reduction in travel costs,鈥 Karratha-based Connect Paediatric Services director Caitlin Breheny said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 scary to think that the services they rely on, just to get up in the morning, just to feed their child, to get them to school, those needs will be pulled from under them.鈥
Ms Breheny said the changes would lead to health professionals leaving the sector all together.
鈥淭he NDIA (statutory agency responsible for implementing the NDIS) has it wrong, we don鈥檛 do this for the money, we do it because we鈥檙e all caring people, and we actually care about the families that we provide services for,鈥 she said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really devaluing for allied health providers; we are being told to do more with less.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to let our participants down and I think the Government knows that we wouldn鈥檛.鈥
According to the National Disability Services State of the Disability Sector Report 2024, a 34 per cent of disability service providers in Australia operated at a loss, with only 13 per cent breaking even.
Bloom Together director and senior speech pathologist Taylor Gartner, based in Wickham, covers Pilbara towns including Karratha, Roebourne, Point Samson and Port Hedland as a sole trader. She says there is often public misunderstanding about what service providers actually earn.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just wild that, as the costs to run a business have increased, the NDIA has not increased the rate that we鈥檙e able to charge,鈥 she said.
鈥淚 feel like there is a big misconception that service providers are greedy and money-hungry but most of us who get into this work, we do it because we want to help other people. We are generous with our time.鈥
Ms Gartner said cutting the travel rate by 50 per cent was incongruent with evidence that therapy should be provided to the individuals in their day-to-day environments.
鈥淚n the Pilbara, we鈥檙e not talking about 10-20 minutes down the road like in the metro areas, we鈥檙e talking hundreds of kilometres, in between cows, kangaroos, road trains 鈥 dangerous road conditions for hours on end,鈥 she said.
鈥淏ut the biggest impact of this is going to be felt by the participants, the children, the families and the individuals that access the NDIS.
鈥淪ervice providers are either going to stop traveling as frequently, stop traveling altogether, or are going to need to close their doors because it鈥檚 just not feasible to continue.鈥
In a statement, a spokesperson for the NDIA said it was important that NDIS participants were paying prices that were fair and in line with industry standards and in some cases, NDIS price limits exceeded the market rate by up to 68 per cent.
鈥淔or participants living in remote areas, therapists can still claim a 40 per cent above-rate price for services 鈥 and 50 per cent for therapy provided in very remote areas. It鈥檚 also important to note that providers can continue to claim for travel-related expenses,鈥 they said.
鈥淲e heard from participants that excessive travel claims for therapy-related services are draining participants鈥 plans faster than expected.
鈥淭he updated therapy travel claiming rules encourage more efficient scheduling by providers and provide clear cost expectations for participants to help them get better value from their funding.鈥
After the release of the NDIA鈥檚 Annual Pricing Review, State Disability Services Minister Hannah Beazley said she had been listening to and continued to meet with the sector to understand the impacts of pricing changes in Western Australia.
鈥淲e鈥檙e working with the Commonwealth Government and the NDIA to explore how to address these concerns, including in regional and remote areas or where there are thin markets,鈥 she said.
鈥淭he Cook Labor Government is committed to advocating for a pricing model that meets WA鈥檚 operating environment and unique needs.鈥