Funding Options for Therapy Services
We understand that it can be confusing trying to work out what financial support you can access for therapy services.
There are several different ways to access financial support to cover some or all of your therapy costs. Your local GP, Paediatrician or NDIS Local Area Co-ordinator may be able to assist and support you in sourcing several of these.
NDIS Funding
We can provide services to NDIS participants whose funding is Plan Managed or Self Managed. If your funding is currently managed by the NDIA, you will be unable to access our services using your NDIS plan. If for any reason you are unable to claim for a session through your NDIS plan, you will be required to pay privately for any services that have already been provided. If you do not yet have access to funding, we recommend contacting the NDIS to start the application process as soon as possible. We can help if you need to provide evidence of functional impairment or disability to support your application.
Self Managed
If you are self-managing your funding, you will be required to pay in full for the session. We will provide you with a receipt via email which you can then use to claim reimbursement through the NDIS portal.
Plan Managed
If Plan Managed, you will need to provide us with the details of your Plan Manager details before your first appointment so that we can send invoices directly to your organisation in order to claim payment.
Private Health Cover
Check with your individual fund to see if you have ‘Extras’ cover for Occupational Therapy. The fund may reimburse you an amount for an Initial OT consultation and subsequent sessions. Please let us know if you intend to claim through private health as in some cases we must apply a specific code to your invoice for it to be claimable.
Medicare Cover
Baobab Therapy is an approved provider for 3 different plans under Medicare.
Medicare plans relevant to Occupational Therapy are:
Chronic Disease Management Plan - CDMP (formerly an ECP plan)
GP Management Plan
Autism Spectrum Disorder Plans (ASD) / Helping Children With Autism (HCWA)
Chronic Disease Management Plan (CDMP)
You can ask your GP whether your child would be eligible for an CDMP. Your child maybe eligible if they see another Allied Health professional as well as an OT or if they have a diagnosis which is considered a chronic or lifelong condition. It is a document which outlines the suggested Allied Health Care requirements for your child beyond standard GP care. This plan provides a partial rebate for 5 individual OT sessions per calendar year. This rebate amount will increase if you are over the Medicare safety net.
GP Management Plan
It is worth discussing with your GP whether your child may be eligible to receive a GP Management Plan. Your GP may make this referral if they believe that Occupational Therapy would be helpful to address any specific developmental difficulties that your child is experiencing. This plan provides a partial rebate for 5 individual OT sessions per calendar year. This rebate amount will increase if you are over the Medicare safety net.
Autism Spectrum Disorder Plan / Helping Children With Autism (HCWA)
Clients who are eligible include children with Autism or any other Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). The plan can be issued by a general practitioner or by a specialist (i.e. Paediatrician) or consultant physician. Your child's treatment plan must be in place before their 13th birthday, and the sessions must be used before they turn 15. Up to 20 relevant allied health services are available per lifetime for the client.
We have extensive experience in the funding support that is available for Early Intervention & Occupational Therapy services and are happy for you to contact us to talk about your options.
