The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has defended changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) pricing system, after widespread criticism from providers across the Western Plains region.

Last week, Marathon Health held a roundtable with service providers, including Dubbo Regional Occupational Therapy, Elephant in the Room, Orana Early Childhood Intervention, and Out West Occupational Therapy.

A spokesperson from Marathon Health said the roundtable was held because providers were worried changes will have a disproportionate impact on rural and regional people.

"We discussed the recent changes to the NDIS and the impact this will have on rural and regional communities.

"This includes capping provider travel claims for therapy supports and holding or reducing therapy prices.

"The proposed changes will disproportionately affect participants in rural and remote areas where the cost to deliver is higher."

A spokesperson from the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has defended the changes, saying they were made after a comprehensive Annual Pricing Review.

"Excessive travel claims for therapy-related services drain participants’ plans faster than expected and reduce the amount of support a participant can access," they said.

"For example, a therapist travelling 3 hours each way to visit a participant for a one-hour session equated to over $1,300 being claimed from a participant’s plan.

"The review found that therapists should not be able to charge the same amount for travel as they do for a session of up to $184 per hour.

"The updated therapy travel claiming rules encourage providers to schedule more efficiently."

The NDIA also advised that travel in remote and very remote areas are not subject to time limit caps, and therapists can still claim a 40% above-rate price for services in remote areas and 50% in very remote areas.

Providers can also claim 99c for each kilometre travelled.

"It is important that the rules and pricing for travel are clear and consistent so that people with disability can assess whether they wish to use their budget in this way," said the spokesperson.

"Sometimes, participants weren’t fully aware of the travel that their providers were claiming for, and participants felt like they didn’t have a choice over the travel costs they were being charged.

"The updated travel claiming rules provide clear cost expectations for participants to help them get better value from their funding."