Streamlining disability plan management tasks: stopping the silent NDIS time leaks

For many disability service providers, the toughest part of their job isn’t providing the care. It’s all the back-office administration. The time that goes into disability plan management, NDIS claiming, compliance and payroll quietly eats hours out of every week.

Left unchecked, these “silent time thieves” put pressure on cashflow, staff, and participant outcomes and take away valuable time spent caring for participants.

In this article, we look at six of the biggest disability plan management back-office time leaks. Plus, we explore how smarter systems can make them disappear.

1. Managing a growing workforce

If you’re a disability provider that gives great care, you’ll inevitably grow. But scaling means more workers on the books and an increasingly complex payroll. Not only are there the award rates (more on that below) but there’s also different pay rates depending on the type of shift, care ratio and whether there was travel time factored in.

Solution: NDIS payroll software that integrates with rostering and plan management, so every shift, kilometre, and allowance is captured accurately.

As Visualcare’s Senior Product Manager Shiam Ahmed explained: “We capture data on hours they’ve worked, travel time and other variables. Having an easy way of capturing data helps people get paid on time,” he said.

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SCHADS Award complexity in disability plan management

The Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award (SCHADS) can be tricky. There are differences between casual and permanent staff plus extras like penalty rates, overtime, sleepovers. Calculating the award rates manually can be a nightmare, and slight mistakes can cost thousands.

“Some of our providers just want to provide care, but they now have the added complexity and burden of complying with different payroll codes and working within a very highly regulated environment,” Shiam said.

Solution: Automated award interpretation applies SCHADS Award correctly, every time.

“Visualcare simplifies some of those complications across payroll so everyone gets paid on time,” he explained.

3. Spreadsheets run the show

It makes sense in the beginning: many organisations rely on spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel for tracking time and travel. However, as you grow, this can be fraught with difficulty. As Shiam explained, manual data entry can create errors and sometimes can even lead to inflated claims.

“Those things can become complicated from a back-office administration perspective when people aren’t putting through the right information. It does happen,” he said.

Solution: Plan management software that captures data in real time. When care staff log their movements while they’re happening, it closes gaps and gives you confidence that every hour logged is legitimate.

4. Rejected claims = delayed plan management payments

You’ve spent hours manually entering your NDIS claim, submit it, and then bam, it’s rejected. One wrong number in the participant ID or plan end date can cause an entire claim to be rejected which delays revenue and strains cashflow.

Solution: Integrated claiming tools in your plan management software that validate the data before you submit it to PACE and DEX.

“When you have automated checks and integrated tools, it streamlines your operations so you know it’s right before you upload to the NDIS. It reduces the rejections and keeps your cash flowing,” Shiam explained.

5. Audit panic

Audit time is stressful. If notes are incomplete or data is scattered, admin staff spend days pulling it all together rather than focusing on care.

Solution: Mobile apps capture notes at the point of care and store them centrally, so audit readiness is built in.

“Our clients know that the system is keeping good records and has an audit history. They know they’ll pass the audit because they've got the right system in place,” Shiam said.

6. Uncertainty around cashflow

When your business relies on government claims, you need to know they’ll be processed quickly and efficiently. When you’ve got a backlog of NDIS claims, you have constant financial uncertainty while you prepare claims and wait for the payments to be made.

Solution: With integrated claiming in plan management software like Visualcare, you can submit your NDIS claim with the click of a button.

Not only does it give you peace of mind, but staff can also have confidence that they’ll be paid on time. As Shiam said, this financial certainty can be life-changing.

“One client we spoke to was literally in tears, because this is exactly what she needed. She was inundated with administrative stuff, but with Visualcare, it meant she had certainty of cash flow and more time to grow her business,” he said.

How to take action with our NDIS back-office checklist

Want a safety net for your payroll and claiming? This blog is part of our series on reclaiming time in NDIS organisations. Our white paper highlights some strategies for reclaiming times.

It includes a NDIS back-office checklist to help you see the common pitfalls in claiming and payroll before they cost you hours, stress, or cashflow.

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Download our whitepaper to get the back office streamlined claiming and payroll checklists.

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