NDIS
The National Disability Insurance Scheme is a scheme introduced for people under the age of 65 years who have a permanent disability which affects their daily life. Funding is provided to the person to support functional outcomes in a number of areas. This includes funding for all allied health professional services, including those that fall under speech pathology services.
Each person's level of funding is based on their unique set of needs, requirements and the goals that they want to be achieved. We work closely with support coordinators to advocate for what clients need and when referrals to other health professionals need to be involved. Our aim is to provide a holistic person centred approach.
Communicate Connect offers the following services funded under NDIS;
- Communication assessments – speech, language, comprehension, expressive language (including verbal and non-verbal clients)
- Communication therapy – speech and language therapy
- Assessment of social language / pragmatic language
- Speech / articulation assessment
- Speech / articulation therapy
- Swallowing assessments – assessment of various food consistencies to ensure the person is as safe as they can be.
- Creation of meal time plans specific to the persons safest food and fluid consistencies
- Case conferences / team meetings around complex decision making processes for holistic care
- Staff, family, person responsible and support worker training on communication
- Staff, family, person responsible and support worker training on swallowing, recognising swallowing difficulties, meal time management, strategies in safe feeding.
- Assist in planning for a persons next NDIS plan based on speech ogy goals and future needs – plan review reports
- Assessment of assistive technology for alternative augmentative communication (AAC), obtaining quotes as part of the requirements for the NDIS.
- Telehealth sessions for all of the above
Further information about the NDIS can be obtained from visiting
Veteran Affairs
Fiona ANN is approved to provide services under The Department of Veteran Affairs for communication and swallowing impairments.
LifeTime Care and Support
Communicate Connect is approved to provide services under LifeTime Care and Support for services in relation to communication and / or swallowing impairment.
Medicare
The medicare benefits schedule consists of a Chronic Disease Management Plan (CDM) / EPC which allows GP’s to refer to a team for a person’s chronic medical condition for the management of that persons needs. In order for this referral to take place, the GP needs to refer you to two other health care providers. Some conditions are not eligible for a Chronic Disease Management Plan. A chronic disease is termed a condition that is likely to last 6 months or longer.
It is important to note that the maximum allocation of sessions a person is entitled to is 5 sessions for an year. This is 5 sessions in TOTAL and not 5 sessions for each allied health professional. As part of a medicare referral, our Speech Pathologists communicate goals and assessment findings for the client to the GP in the form of a summary report due at the first visit and 5th final session (summary report ONLY and not a detailed report).
Communicate Connect Speech Pathology does not participate in bulk billing of CDM plans / medicare sessions. Unfortunately many GP's communicate that this service is free under medicare when it is not. For more information about prices, please call us on 02 49 451819.
Private Health Insurance
All of the services provided by speech pathologists can be seen as a private fee paying service. Some private health funds offer a rebate on approved allied health services but this would depend on the amount of cover you have. You will need to check with your private health insurance company to determine how much and how many sessions you are entitled to. If you are in a health fund, please let us know which one so that we can record the appropriate information on your receipt in order for you to claim your entitlements.