An integrated approach to disability support management through technology

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Under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the disability support industry in Australia has become more competitive. Leading providers are streamlining their operations, while still delivering optimal service – and putting customer needs at the core of every decision.

Providers are facing challenges such as being cost effective; remaining within NDIS pricing structures; having accurate and timely reporting; embracing data for decision making; implementing effective worker and safety screening; and of course, being compliant.

“Providers are asking, ‘Who are we, what are we good at, do we expand, what does the market look like, and who are our customers and our competitors?’” says Kerry McGough, National Sector Lead, Health & Human Services, KPMG.

McGough says to succeed, organisations need a strong value proposition, and must focus on maintaining and growing their customer base.

“From the back office to the front line, providers must deliver a seamless, safe and high quality customer experience,” she says.

To achieve this, McGough says organisations need the support of the right underlying technology platform – one that is in tune with NDIS requirements, and can cater to the ever-changing demands of customers.

Many providers are sitting on legacy technology that was built for pre-NDIS processes, explains Paul Grundy, Director, Management Consulting, KPMG.

“The client is not at the heart of these systems, they are more designed for government reporting,” he says.

Grundy says an ideal system should streamline administration and NDIS requirements, better engage with customers, enable efficient service planning and delivery, help with optimisation of the workforce, and facilitate the collection of useful data for analysis, among other benefits.

“The right technology should allow providers to deliver better support in the way people choose to receive it. And to enable their workforce to spend less time worrying about the administrative burdens, and more time focused on clients,” Grundy says.

To help overcome these challenges, KPMG has built Community Care. The cloud software platform is purpose built to match the NDIS processes end-to-end from participant entry through to payment requirements.

McGough says the solution draws on KPMG’s in-depth understanding of the sector, the NDIS requirements, and experience in helping organisations to refocus around customer centricity. Key is the ability to facilitate a ‘single source of truth’ about the customer. 

“It gives you a line of sight of the people you’re supporting from the moment they enter the organisation. You can capture lots of rich and relevant information to help improve your services,” she says.

McGough and Grundy explain that other core benefits include:

• Mobility: The system is ‘mobile-first’, so staff can get the right information on the right client while on the road. Case notes can be captured electronically.
• Agility: It supports continual innovation, allowing users to adjust modules as regulatory, customer or staff needs change. For example, new modules around risk, incident reporting and safeguarding.
  
• Workplace management: It helps to optimise rosters, and to respond to day-to-day changes.
• Data capturing and sharing: It is designed to connect people, processes and data, and share relevant information. It simplifies gathering of data for analysis and decision-making.
  
• Tracking: It tracks health and support needs and helps to maximise the human contact element of support.

McGough explains that the solution can be adapted for organisations in aged care and in-home community care. “It will allow them to let go of legacy systems and have one significant system operating on their customer management,” she says.

In today’s environment, the right technology can mean the difference between being a leader, or losing market share. 

Grundy says: “With a fully connected end-to-end technology platform, organisations have less administrative burden. They can better balance costs, improve efficiencies, optimise the workforce, keep customer focused, and ensure they are compliant.”