The NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 took effect on 1 July 2026, and for therapy providers the headline is a widening gap. Occupational therapy stays at $193.99 per hour for an eighth year, while psychology has lifted to $252.99 per hour. Source.
There is a second change that matters just as much operationally. The document that providers knew as the Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, the PAPL, is now the Pricing Schedule, and each therapy discipline is set out as six separate claim items. Claims can be rejected if practice-management systems are not mapped to the correct item numbers, so this is a billing job, not just a reading job. Source.
Key Summary
- OT frozen again: occupational therapy holds at $193.99 per hour, unchanged since 2019, an eighth year of freeze. (NDIS / OTA)
- Psychology up: psychology rises about 8.6% to $252.99 per hour, and behaviour support moves with it. (NDIS)
- Not everyone gained: dietetics is cut to $178.99 and exercise physiology to $161.99. (NDIS)
- Provider viability: OTA data shows 55% of OT businesses made no profit last financial year, and half are weighing an exit within three years. (OTA)
- PAPL is gone: it is replaced by the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, effective 1 July 2026. (NDIS)
- Six line items per discipline: direct service, cancellation, non-face-to-face, provider travel (still 50%), NDIA requested reports, and telehealth. (NDIS)
- Rebill correctly: claims can be rejected if systems are not reconfigured to the right item numbers before you invoice. (NDIS)
An Eighth-Year Freeze, and a Widening Pricing Gap
The Annual Pricing Review sets the therapy prices in the Schedule, and this year it moved money around rather than lifting everyone. Occupational therapy stays at $193.99 per hour. Occupational Therapy Australia notes the price has not moved since 2019, which makes 2026-27 the eighth year of the freeze. Psychology, by contrast, rises to $252.99 per hour, an increase of about 8.6% on the previous $232.99. Source.
The gap is easier to see side by side. The table below sets out the main allied health and therapy rates for 2026-27 against the year before.
| Discipline | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychology | $232.99 | $252.99 | Up $20.00 (8.6%) |
| Occupational therapy | $193.99 | $193.99 | No change |
| Physiotherapy | $183.99 | $183.99 | No change |
| Podiatry | $188.99 | $188.99 | No change |
| Dietetics | $188.99 | $178.99 | Down $10.00 (5.3%) |
| Exercise physiology | $166.99 | $161.99 | Down $5.00 (3.0%) |
So it is not simply a story of one frozen discipline. Psychology gained, several rates held, and dietetics and exercise physiology were reduced. For a busy multidisciplinary clinic, that means the same participant hour can now be worth quite different amounts depending on who delivers it. Source.
What the freeze is doing to OT businesses
Occupational Therapy Australia has been vocal through its “No OTs, No NDIS” campaign. Its 2025 survey of more than 600 OT businesses found that 55% made no profit in the past financial year, 14% were planning to close, and 50% were considering leaving the sector within three years. More than 90% said they had cut back on travel and outreach, which is exactly the kind of mobile allied health work that reaches regional and less mobile participants. Source.
OTA has characterised a static price against rising wage and operating costs as a market that is failing, and it is seeking a price increase and restored travel rates. Whether or not that case is accepted, the workforce signal is worth watching for anyone who employs or refers to occupational therapists. Source.
Why this matters: pricing is a workforce lever. When one discipline is held flat for eight years while costs rise, thinner margins can push clinicians out of NDIS work, lengthen waitlists, and reduce the pool of providers your clients and your practice can rely on.
The PAPL Is Gone: What the New Pricing Schedule Is
The single biggest structural change is the document itself. What providers used for years as the Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits is now published as the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, effective 1 July 2026. The name change is not cosmetic. It sits alongside the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026, introduced to Parliament on 14 May 2026, which proposes to give the Minister the power to set the maximum price for a support. Source.
The NDIA also says it used a wider evidence base this year, drawing on more than 16 million therapy transactions from private health insurance and comparable schemes to benchmark therapy pricing. That is part of why the therapy section, in particular, has been reworked. Source.
One practical point is easy to miss. A new Schedule does not change existing service agreements on its own. The NDIA is clear that providers must discuss any proposed price change with the participant, and the participant must agree to it. In other words, updating your rate card is step one; re-papering the agreement is step two. Source.
Context worth keeping: we covered the previous cycle in Updated NDIS Pricing Arrangements 2025-26. The 2026-27 Schedule is the next step, and the claiming structure below is the part most likely to trip up billing.
The Six Line Items Every Therapy Provider Must Rebill Correctly
In the 2026-27 Schedule, each therapy discipline is claimed through six separate items. The direct service item carries the base support number, and each additional service adds a suffix. Getting the suffix right is what keeps a claim clean, because the same hour of work is claimed differently depending on what it was. Source.
The table below uses occupational therapy as a worked example. The pattern repeats for every therapy discipline, with the discipline’s own base number and its own hourly rate.
| Claim type | Item suffix | Example item number | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct service | (base) | 01_661_0128_1_3 | $193.99 |
| Cancellation | _CA | 01_661_0128_1_3_CA | $193.99 |
| Non-face-to-face | _NF | 01_661_0128_1_3_NF | $193.99 |
| Provider travel | _PT | 01_661_0128_1_3_PT | $97.00 (50% of direct rate) |
| NDIA requested reports | _RR | 01_661_0128_1_3_RR | $193.99 |
| Telehealth | _TH | 01_661_0128_1_3_TH | $193.99 |
Three of these deserve a second look, because they are where the brief and your billing meet. Provider travel is still claimable at 50% of the direct rate, so an hour of OT travel is $97.00, not the full $193.99. Telehealth and non-face-to-face work, such as report writing and documentation, are billed at the full direct rate, but each must be claimed under its own item, not lumped into the direct service line. Source.
The rebill trap: non-face-to-face and travel are now visible as their own lines in the claim data. That improves transparency for the NDIA, and it means a claim submitted against the wrong item can be rejected. If your practice-management system still points to last year’s mapping, fix that before you invoice.
What Providers Should Do Now
None of this needs a panic. It needs a short, deliberate checklist so the new Schedule is reflected in your rates, your systems, and your agreements before the next billing run.
1) Reconfigure your billing and item mapping
- Update each therapy discipline to the correct 2026-27 base rate and the five suffix items.
- Confirm provider travel is set at 50% of the direct rate, not the full rate.
- Check that telehealth and non-face-to-face map to their own items rather than the direct service line.
2) Brief the people who invoice
- Give finance and admin a one-page summary of the six items and which suffix applies when.
- Run a small test batch first, then reconcile before you invoice at volume.
- Watch early remittance advice for rejections and correct the mapping quickly.
3) Re-paper participant service agreements
- Where a rate changes, discuss it with the participant and record their agreement.
- Do not apply a new price to an existing agreement without that conversation.
- Keep a simple log of which agreements have been updated.
4) Watch the disciplines that moved
- Psychology and behaviour support teams can update to the higher rate, subject to agreement.
- Dietetics and exercise physiology teams should model the lower rate against their cost base.
- For OT, plan for a flat rate against rising costs, and keep an eye on travel utilisation.
Practical implication: the clinics that will feel the least disruption are the ones that treat this as an operations task now, rather than a surprise at the end of the month. Clean mapping protects cash flow; agreed rates protect the participant relationship.
Conclusion
The 2026-27 Schedule tells two stories at once. There is a pricing story, in which occupational therapy is held flat for an eighth year while psychology rises and a few disciplines are cut. And there is an operational story, in which the PAPL becomes the Pricing Schedule and every therapy claim now sits under one of six items. Source.
The pricing story is worth following, and OTA’s campaign will keep it in view. The operational story is the one you can act on today: update your rates, map the six items correctly, and re-agree service agreements where prices change. Clinics that do the boring work early will bill cleanly and keep serving participants without interruption. Source.
Disclaimer: This blog is a general overview and should not be construed as professional legal, financial or medical advice.
FAQs
- What is the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, and what happened to the PAPL?
The Pricing Schedule 2026-27 is the NDIA’s set of maximum prices for NDIS supports, effective 1 July 2026. It replaces the document previously known as the Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, the PAPL. Providers use it to inform their prices and must agree any change with participants.
- Did occupational therapy pricing change on 1 July 2026?
No. Occupational therapy holds at $193.99 per hour nationally. Occupational Therapy Australia notes the rate has not moved since 2019, which makes 2026-27 the eighth year of the freeze.
- How much did NDIS psychology pricing rise?
Psychology rose to $252.99 per hour nationally, an increase of about 8.6% on the previous $232.99. Behaviour support moved to the same rate. Some other disciplines were reduced, including dietetics and exercise physiology.
- What are the six therapy line items in the 2026-27 Schedule?
Each therapy discipline is claimed through six items: direct service, cancellation, non-face-to-face, provider travel, NDIA requested reports, and telehealth. The direct service item carries the base number, and each additional service adds a suffix such as _NF for non-face-to-face or _TH for telehealth.
- Is provider travel still claimable, and at what rate?
Yes. Provider travel is claimable at 50% of the direct service rate. For occupational therapy that is $97.00 per hour of travel, against a $193.99 direct rate. Telehealth and non-face-to-face work are billed at the full direct rate, but each must be claimed under its own item.
- What should providers do to avoid rejected claims?
Update your practice-management system so each therapy discipline maps to the correct 2026-27 base rate and its five suffix items, run a small test batch, and reconcile before invoicing at volume. Then update participant service agreements where a price changes, with the participant’s agreement recorded.
Information Sources
- NDIA: NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 (effective 1 July 2026)
- NDIA: Annual Pricing Review (APR) report released, 22 June 2026
- NDIS: Pricing updates
- Occupational Therapy Australia: OTs on the brink, new data on the impact of NDIS cuts (2025 provider survey)
- Occupational Therapy Australia: No OTs, No NDIS campaign
- Gorilla Jobs: What Are the Advantages of Mobile Allied Health for NDIS Participants?
- Gorilla Jobs: Updated NDIS Pricing Arrangements 2025-26
