HealthStrong chosen to support the National Disability Insurance Agency

HealthStrong has been chosen as part of the independent assessment panel for the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), a new process that begins in July to improve how people access and use the NDIS.

The NDIA has been piloting the use of independent assessments to evaluate a person's ability to manage the tasks and activities of everyday life, and Healthstrong has been a part of the second pilot which began in February.

The assessments are undertaken by qualified health professionals who are both independent of the NDIA and also not a person’s treating health professional. The results of the independent assessment will be provided to the NDIA to inform decisions about the applicant’s eligibility to access the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and if already a participant, their personalised plan budget.

The NDIS supports hundreds of thousands of Australians with a significant and permanent disability as well as their families and carers. Not only will HealthStrong be providing assessments for existing and potential new participants in their home, HealthStrong will also be one of the national providers of telehealth assessments.

In the lead up to the service starting in July, HealthStrong was also asked to take part in a trial to help inform the service before its official launch.

Medibank’s Senior Executive of Homecare Jan O’Keefe said this service leverages HealthStrong’s extensive at-home care experience as well as our well-developed clinical assessment capability.

“We are very proud to be supporting Australians accessing this service on behalf of the National Disability Insurance Agency,” Ms O’Keefe said.

“The service will be delivered by our allied health professionals and provides a great opportunity for our HealthStrong team to further utilise their skills.

“The NDIS is essential in better supporting hundreds of thousands of Australians, and our HealthStrong team are ready to support the NDIA in improving how people use and access the NDIS.”

More information about the independent assessment pilot is available on the NDIS website.