A Newcastle occupational therapy business that treated children with autism has closed due to price caps set by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
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Alyce Svensk said she had no choice but to close her Sensational Start business, which had clinics in Belmont, Boolaroo and Central Coast.
Her business had been operating for seven years. Over that time, the service worked with about 1000 clients aged two to 18, including 300 in the past year.
"The impact this will have on the community and my therapists is devastating. We had 14 staff," she said.
She said the NDIA had kept the price cap for one-hour sessions at $193.99 for five years under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
Its annual pricing review, released last month, said the current price cap "adequately reflects market norms".
Occupational Therapy Australia (OTA) had sought an 18.6 per cent rise to keep prices in line with inflation.
OTA chief executive Samantha Hunter said half of occupational therapist practices "only broke even or made a loss in the last financial year".
Ms Hunter said the price freeze was a "death sentence" for the profession.
Mrs Svensk was able to move most of her Newcastle clients to other services, but she believes the price freeze will cause more occupational therapy business to close.
"The biggest challenge in the allied health space is there's no staff to recruit."
She said senior therapists were hard to find so, if they left, junior staff would be unsupported.
There had been "multiple business closures due to staff shortages" on the Central Coast, so her clients from there were now on waitlists.
A sharp rise in the cost of business, such as rent, electricity, insurance and salaries was a big factor in her clinics closing.
She said it was frustrating that the NDIA review had raised price caps for psychologists and nurses based on rises in "wages and the cost of living".
The Albanese government's NDIS review, released last December, sought to reduce the scheme's skyrocketing costs - particularly due to a rise in autism diagnosis rates.
Mrs Svensk said the future for occupational therapy and early intervention for children with autism and developmental delays was now uncertain.
"We worked with a lot of kids with autism and kids in the early intervention space. The NDIS is reviewing their eligibility," she said.
Many families with affected children face being denied NDIS coverage. They will have to pay for treatment.
"A concern is that they won't have the money to pay," Mrs Svensk said.
"We're already seeing six- to 12-month delays with getting on the NDIS and we know early intervention needs to be done sooner rather than later.
"And there's now a number of services closing, so there won't be the services out there to support them."
She said her company had private clients, as well as NDIS-funded clients.
"In more recent years it was heavier towards NDIS, which reflected how the funding shifted," she said.
"It was encouraged for them to get NDIS. But now there's a concern the private services won't function either because the work won't be there in the same way."
