How to record your NDIS providers

With all the talk about PACE – the National Disability Insurance Agency’s (NDIA) new and improved computer system – you may have heard rumblings about ‘recording’ or ‘endorsing’ providers. But what exactly does that mean? Do you really need to do it? And if you do, how do you go about it?

Let’s break it down.

What does endorsing a provider mean?

In the new world of PACE, endorsing a provider means a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participant – or their plan nominee, child representative or Public Guardian – records the providers they regularly work with as part of their NDIS plan.

Once endorsed, those providers are known as ‘my providers.’ They get paid more swiftly than those that aren’t endorsed, and they can view parts of your NDIS plan, if you give them your consent.

You’ll hear both terms – ‘endorse’ and record’ – used. Don’t worry, for this purpose they mean the same thing!

Do all NDIS participants need to record their ‘my providers’?

If you’ve got a PACE NDIS plan and you access any of the following supports, you’ll need to record the providers that deliver them as ‘my providers’:

• Plan management
• Support coordination
• Recovery coaching
• Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA)
• Home and living supports
• Behaviour support
• Agency managed supports (yes, all of them!)

Importantly, plan managers (like us!) need to be recorded as ‘my providers’ to be paid by the NDIA – but you don’t need to endorse your plan managed supports if you don’t want to.

If your plan hasn’t yet been added to the PACE computer system, you won’t be able to record ‘my providers’, but once it has, you will.

And, if you choose to self manage your supports, the NDIA says you won’t need to record your providers at all.

We’ve included some more information about the NDIA’s rules around recording providers below.

How do you record ‘my providers’?

Recording ‘my providers’ is simple to do. Just follow these steps:

1. Make a list of the providers you’d like to record as ‘my providers’. Make sure you find and write down their NDIS provider numbers and their legal and trading names.
2. Talk to your ‘my NDIS’ contact at any time – or get in touch with the NDIS national contact centre on 1800 800 110 to let them know your choices. You can also share your choices at your planning meeting, plan implementation meeting, or during a check-in.

If you’d like to endorse My Plan Manager as your plan manager, we’ve made it easy to do just that! Simply fill in this form and give it to your ‘my NDIS’ contact.

Once you’ve recorded your ‘my providers’, they’ll remain recorded on your plan – unless or until you decide to make a change. If you’d ever like to add or remove a ‘my provider’, you can do so by talking to your ‘my NDIS’ contact or by calling the NDIS national contact centre and letting their staff know.

What does this mean for service bookings?

If you’ve ever had service bookings made for you under the NDIA’s ‘old’ computer system, you’re probably familiar with the practice of setting aside funding in your plan to cover the supports you and your providers agree they’ll deliver as part of the booking.

Things are a little different in the new world of PACE, but the changes are designed to make life simpler for participants.

Once your plan is added to the PACE computer system, the NDIA says endorsing or recording a provider replaces the need for service bookings. This means any providers associated with your current bookings (except those that deliver SDA, home and living supports, and behaviour supports) will automatically be recorded as a ‘my provider’ – making the processing of claims easier.

Extra resources for endorsing ‘my providers’

The NDIA has created resources to help participants record their ‘my providers’. The resources are accessible online and include:

• Factsheet: Recording my providers
• Easy read: Recording my providers

We’re here to help

It’s important to remember PACE is new and it’s evolving – which means there are plenty of changes happening! Make sure you keep up to date on what’s going on by visiting our regularly updated PACE FAQs web page.

If you’ve got a PACE question, we’re here to help. You can email us at enquiries@myplanmanager.com.au or call us on 1800 592 405 from 8am-5.30pm (SA time), Monday to Friday.