How to Make Your NDIS Business Audit-Proof

• You're not alone if the word "audit" gives you the chills. NDIS audits can set NDIS providers back thousands of dollars and interfere with business as usual.


• NDIS providers frequently find themselves unprepared for audits, even though it is inevitable. Staff members are diverted from their regular tasks to gather NDIS billing and compliance data, using up time you can't bill for.


• A more sustainable solution is required given the frequency of audits.


• If your records were always up to date, how much time could you save? If compliance was incorporated into every decision made within your organization, ensuring that crucial data came from a single source and could be linked to each client? If you could access the complete history of occurrences and reports, even years after a worker has left the company, would you?
  It would make your company audit-proof.

NDIS audits can stump up even diligent organizations.

• To ensure compliance with the NDIS, a vast array of documentation must be gathered every day. Regular evidence of compliance is required for audits, covering everything from NDIS billing and invoicing to incident reports, team member certifications, and service delivery documentation.


• There is no such thing as a pass or fail in an audit, but there are repercussions for failing to provide sufficient proof that the proper procedures have been followed. Each audit is given a score ranging from 3 to 0, as follows:



• NDIS Audit Rating 3:

  You've shown that your organization goes above and above, providing services that go above and beyond the bare minimum required to comply with NDIS compliance criteria. You've also used innovations for timely and fruitful service delivery.



• NDIS Audit Rating 2:

  You can satisfactorily demonstrate that you have followed the necessary NDIS compliance processes.



• NDIS Audit Rating 1:

  While you can provide some proof of the correct application of NDIS policies and procedures, you are missing the necessary supporting paperwork. To change the rating of 1, you will have to act.



• NDIS Audit Rating 0:

  Although this appears to be a "fail" rating, it signifies that you were unable to provide evidence of adequate planning, quality control, or application of NDIS rules and procedures. Multiple 0 ratings can result in de-registration, so you must act quickly to correct this.


• It's crucial to keep in mind that NDIS providers can receive a rating of 0 even when they are cautious and compliant. Not because you did anything wrong, but rather because you were unable to present the proof necessary to demonstrate that everything was done properly.
  An illustration of non-compliance: Incident reporting
  Consider the following case: Both a team member and a client were hurt in an accident that happened on the premises at a day program. The person providing the services finds this stressful, and as a result, they don't record any information about the occurrence in the seconds that follow. When they eventually finish the report at the end of the day, they go through their end-of-day paperwork to locate their general incident form and fill it out in the 30 minutes allotted for their post-shift admin.
  In the end, it is abrupt, subjective, and lacking in specificity. When audit time finally arrives months later, the client has a demonstrated history of comparable instances that are noted during an audit. As employees try to piece together facts, your company is given a non-conformity score. Despite your policies and procedures, you are unable to demonstrate that you can apply best practice processes due to a lack of time, an excessive amount of administrative work, and a lack of concentration.
  Then, how do you change a situation like this? Compliance must be an afterthought if you want to become genuinely audit-proof and ace evaluations with scores of 2-3 every time. No matter the circumstance, recording the information you require should come naturally to everyone. The secret to making this happen is for the process to be so straightforward that it fits into your day without any hassle – better than any manual methods that are now in use could ever hope to.
  

Making your organization audit-proof

• You must have perfect planning in order to put an end to the anxiety that comes with audits. It means the antithesis of spending hours or weeks getting ready. It involves having the proper resources, including tools and documentation, available. Compliance is a piece of cake when you can instantly access all the relevant information (that is accurate and traceable).


• Unfortunately, casual frontline support staff frequently have the burden of proving NDIS compliance. They lack time and spend much of the day away from the office. Without the proper tools, they are forced to take notes after their shifts or spend hours at the end of the week catching up, leaving significant gaps in your data. Other team members frequently lose this knowledge when staff employees depart, not knowing where to find preserved documents (if at all).


• To ensure that your data is always in sync, you need to get organized in advance by putting the appropriate NDIS software and processes in place.


• It implies:
• • Facilitating information recording for frontline personnel. This should be done instantly, without adding hours to their regular workday, and include anything from client notes to incident reports.


• • Always-accurate billing that takes into consideration the most recent NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits as well as authorized customer plans to guarantee that every line item is considered.


• • Protection of vital health data and privacy for client information. Additionally, it should guarantee the independence of the support coordination services and that no records are accessible to the rest of your company without permission.


• • Keeping track of team members' certifications to make sure no one has out-of-date credentials or is hired without the required checks in place (e.g. First Aid Certificate, Working with Children Check).

Have you got the whole picture?

• Data disconnects are what make auditing stressful. It takes time and effort to attempt to put information together like a jigsaw. This is where having a single, all-encompassing platform for your whole company makes a huge impact.


• The platform from Cygen places the customer profile at the heart of every decision you make for your business. Because everyone inside an organization has a complete image of every customer, it is simple to track down information and produce proof of the services rendered.


• You may view who on the team has rendered services, as well as the dates and locations of bookings.


• When every workflow is integrated with the customer's approved NDIS plan, you can easily establish the services were provided and show that they were authorized and charged to the appropriate line item for the cost and complexity of the care.


• You may demonstrate proof of qualifications and required checks if team member profiles are in the same area as your service delivery and customer management.


• Additionally, you may export client progress notes, bring up incident reports, and keep tabs on your targets. All under a single system in place.


• This not only simplifies compliance, but it also makes it easier for your staff to provide high-quality service and keep customers on track towards their goals.

An Instance of Audit-proof compliance

• Let's go back to the incident report scenario we discussed earlier, but this time with Cygen in place to manage the data. With Cygen, the team members would have checked in for their shift and logged all customer notes and interactions on their phone, including an incident report. The incident report would be recorded on-site in an instant, using a simple, custom-built workflow pre-populated with prompts based on the type of incident that occurred. Team members recorded what was important and didn't have to worry about trying to recall details later or while stressed.


• The information would have reached the office within days, alerting the appropriate managers right away, allowing them to take quick action and guarantee the continuous safety of both team members and the client. For each procedure, a notification would have informed the appropriate party, allowing them to take appropriate action and follow up with the client and/or their family.


• As you can see, even before an audit is discussed, this is a better outcome for everyone involved with the appropriate procedure and methodology. Of course, the same system that handled the report would also display traceable data on any team member who has worked with this customer and the services provided when these specifics are audited. There is no room for speculation.


• Gather your important stakeholders, assess your information systems using this checklist, and conduct your next audit.


• Your team will be guided by this practical checklist as they examine compliance data, revealing how time-consuming it will be to assemble proof for an audit. This will provide you with the chance to assess your organization's processes, policies, technology, and security in order to make it completely prepared.