Unlocking NDIS Registration Groups: A Guide for Residential Aged Care Providers

Fast-forwarding nearly three years from when residential aged care (RAC) providers supporting residents who became National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants were automatically registered as NDIS Registered Providers with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (“NDIS Commission”), the landscape continues to evolve. RAC providers bear dual responsibilities under the regulatory frameworks of both the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission and the NDIS Commission. 

While there are broad commonalities between the Aged Care Quality Standards and the NDIS Practice Standards, the language used across the two sectors differs significantly. As the Specialist Disability Advisor at Anchor Excellence, I am regularly contacted by RAC providers requesting assistance to mystify and operationalize countless terms used by the NDIS. One area of recurrent inquiry concerns NDIS registration groups.

Each support as funded in their NDIS plan and provided to a NDIS participant is classified as a support item listed in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits and in the NDIS Support Catalogue. Each support item has a unique reference number. 

In relation to RAC providers, when a resident becomes a NDIS participant, their reasonable and necessary needs are met through a combination of supports provided by the RAC provider as required by the Aged Care Act 1997 (Cth). For every resident that has become a NDIS participant, their NDIS plan will include the following ‘NDIA Managed’ support item of, Cross billing payments for residential aged care subsidies and supplements, with the following unique reference number: 01_049_0115_1_1.

01_049_0115_1_1 Cross billing payments for residential aged care subsidies and supplements

The above support item is for the following supports provided by the RAC provider, Basic Care Subsidy, Accommodational Supplement and other Supplements. However, as a NDIS Registered Provider subject to the rules set out in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, this support item is not claimable by the RAC provider.

Where residents have been assessed by Services Australia and deemed eligible to financially contribute to their cost of care, support and accommodation provided by the RAC provider, NDIS may pay some of these fees. Where a NDIS participant is being reimbursed for these fees, their NDIS plan will include the following ‘Self-Managed’ or ‘Plan-Managed’ support item of, ‘Assistance with daily life tasks provided in residential aged care facility’, with the following unique reference number: 01_050_0115_1_1.

01_050_0115_1_1 Assistance with daily life tasks provided in residential aged care facility

NDIS Registration Groups 

NDIS registration is organised around ‘registration groups’. Each support item specifies the registration group for which the NDIS Registered Provider who delivers the support must be registered with the NDIS Commission. In delivering the above two support items, RAC providers are registered with the NDIS Commission to deliver, ‘Assistance with Daily Life Tasks in a Group or Shared Living Arrangement’.

Registration groups are divided between ‘high risk’ and ‘low risk’. Low risk registration groups typically involve less direct or interpersonal contact with an NDIS participant to deliver the funded supports and services in their NDIS plan. 

High risk registration groups involve the delivery of funded supports and services to participants that involve high levels of direct, physical and intensive interpersonal contact between staff and the participant. In relation to RAC providers supporting residents that become a NDIS participant, support items: 01_049_0115_1_1 Cross billing payments for residential aged care subsidies and supplements, and 01_050_0115_1_1 Assistance with daily life tasks provided in residential aged care facility, are classified as a ‘high risk’ support. In delivering ‘high risk’ supports, RAC providers will undergo a certification audit against the NDIS Practice Standards comprising of four core modules, along with the applicable supplementary modules. Together with the NDIS Code of Conduct, the NDIS Practice Standards build NDIS participants’ awareness of what quality service provision they should expect from NDIS Registered Providers.