NDIS Therapy Line Items 2026‑27 and the New Suffixes

The short version

From 1 July 2026, every NDIS therapy support has six item numbers, not one. The base item is the session itself. Five sibling items, marked by a suffix, cover telehealth (_TH), non-face-to-face work (_NF), NDIA requested reports (_RR), short notice cancellations (_CA) and provider travel (_PT) (Pricing Schedule, 24 September edition).

Three things to know before you send another invoice:

• Four of the five siblings cost the same as the session. Only _PT is different: it's half the hourly rate.
• The claim type moved into the item number. You used to claim travel, reports and cancellations against the base item with a claim type. Now you pick the suffixed item.
• The rules for when you can claim each one haven't been rewritten. The NDIA says it "will shortly publish updated pricing and claiming guidance documents" and still lists the 2025-26 PAPL (NDIA pricing arrangements). Until then, the 2025-26 rules are the best reference.

This guide covers therapy only. For the whole 2026-27 schedule, including support worker prices, STA and the new legal status of the price limits, read our NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 guide.

The 2026‑27 therapy price limits

These are the hourly maximums in Appendix 4 of the Pricing Schedule, which has been law since 24 September 2026. The amounts are the same as the 1 July edition (Pricing Schedule, 24 September edition; Pricing Schedule, 1 July edition).

Remote is 40% above national and very remote is 50% above. The national price applies in MM 1 to 5, the remote price in MM 6 and the very remote price in MM 7, with some towns reclassified on the Isolated Towns Type 1 list. The schedule says location is set by "the physical location where the service takes place, regardless of the participants' usual home address" (Pricing Schedule, 24 September edition).

Each discipline also has its own entry standard in Appendix 4. Psychology needs current AHPRA registration, dietetics needs Accredited Practising Dietitian status, speech pathology needs Certified Practising status with Speech Pathology Australia, and so on. Bill the item for the discipline the clinician actually holds.

Same discipline, different item numbers

Some disciplines appear under more than one support category. Psychology, for example, has 01_701_0128_1_3 (Assistance with Daily Life), 10_054_0128_5_3 (Finding and Keeping a Job) and 15_054_0128_1_3 (Improved Daily Living Skills), all at $252.99. Dietitians and exercise physiologists also have items in category 12, Improved Health and Wellbeing (NDIS Support Catalogue 2026-27). The price is the same; what changes is which part of the plan pays. Use the item that matches the funding the participant has for that support, and its suffixes come with it.

Early childhood items (the ECI Professional items in Appendix 5) have their own suffix families and aren't covered here.

The six items behind every therapy support

Every therapy item in Appendix 4 comes as a family of six. The NDIA's 2026-27 catalogue has 332 suffixed items across therapy and early childhood, and the base items now show "N" in the old non-face-to-face, travel, cancellation and report columns, because those claims moved to the siblings (NDIS Support Catalogue 2026-27).

The APR recommended separate items for provider travel and for non-face-to-face work, including reports, to "improve transparency and accuracy in claiming" (Recommendations 10 and 11) (APR report). Telehealth and cancellation items came with the schedule itself.

Neither edition of the 2026-27 schedule defines what goes on each sibling. The definitions below come from the 2025-26 PAPL, which is still the reference until the NDIA's new guidance appears (PAPL 2025-26).

Telehealth (_TH)

Under the 2025-26 rules, you can claim telehealth only when it's appropriate for that support, the participant agreed to it in advance in the service agreement, and the charges comply with the price limits. Providers have "a duty of care to their participants to ensure they are providing the same standard of care through video technology as in a clinical setting" (PAPL 2025-26).

Which price column? The PAPL said telehealth should generally use the price for where the clinician is, but participants in remote or very remote areas can agree to the remote price if they're satisfied it's value for money. The September schedule talks only about where "the service takes place". Until the NDIA says which wins, the conservative call is the clinician's location unless you have the remote participant's written agreement.

Is a phone session telehealth or non-face-to-face? Nothing published says. The old wording is about video. Pick a rule, put it in your service agreement and apply it the same way every time.

Non-face-to-face (_NF)

For work that's part of delivering this participant's support but done without them. The APR names preparation and documentation (APR report). The PAPL gives reports to other providers about the participant's progress, and research linked to the participant's goals. The participant must agree to it in advance in the service agreement (PAPL 2025-26).

What you can't put on _NF is admin. The PAPL lists pre-engagement visits, service agreements, entering participant details, rostering changes, plan monitoring, quotes, service bookings and payment claims, plus staff training and supervision. Those costs are already in the price. Charging a fee not linked to completed activities is not permitted.

NDIA requested reports (_RR)

Only for a report the NDIA actually requested: one required at the start of a plan setting out goals, one at plan reassessment measuring outcomes against those goals, one recommending ongoing supports, or another therapy report the participant's plan says is required. The service agreement must say NDIA reports can be claimed (PAPL 2025-26). A report a support coordinator or school asks for is not an NDIA requested report. That goes on _NF, if the participant agreed.

Like _NF, _RR is priced at the clinician's location, because the work isn't delivered directly.

Cancellations (_CA)

Therapy normally falls under the "2 clear business days" rule. If the participant gives less than two clear business days' notice, or doesn't show within a reasonable time, you can claim up to 100% of the agreed fee, but only if (PAPL 2025-26):

• your cancellation terms are in the service agreement
• you couldn't find other billable work for the clinician
• you still have to pay the clinician for that time (sole traders and partnerships are exempt from this one)

You can waive the fee or offer better terms. There's no hard limit on cancellations, but the NDIA monitors them and expects you to find out why a participant cancels a lot. The _CA item is priced the same as the session, so a missed psychology hour can claim up to $252.99.

The schedule has one typo here. The exercise physiology cancellation item prints as 12_027_0126_3_3_CA2 in the 24 September edition, but the July edition and the catalogue both say 12_027_0126_3_3_CA. Bill the catalogue's code.

Provider travel (_PT)

The _PT price is exactly half the direct service rate in every column, so the old "therapy travel at 50%" rule is now built into the price. The other 2025-26 travel rules still apply (PAPL 2025-26):

• Time caps. Up to 30 minutes per trip to the participant in MM 1 to 3 and up to 60 minutes in MM 4 to 5. No cap in MM 6 and 7, where you can agree travel with the participant.
• Return trip. Travel back to your usual place of work counts only if you must pay the clinician for it, and it's capped the same way.
• Shared trips. Travel to several participants on one run can be split between them, if each agreed in advance.
• Face to face only. Travel can be claimed only when the support is delivered directly to the participant. On that wording, a no-show at the door gets _CA, not _PT.
• Kilometres. Vehicle costs go on the separate "Provider travel - non-labour costs" item, 15_799_0128_1_3 for therapy, at up to $0.99 a kilometre under the 2025-26 rules. That item is still in the 2026-27 catalogue but isn't in the 24 September schedule (NDIS Support Catalogue 2026-27).

Provisional psychologists and therapy assistants

The rule hasn't changed, but the NDIA added it to the 1 July schedule in version 1.2 on 22 July 2026 (Pricing Schedule, 1 July edition):

• Paid provisionally registered psychologists working under supervision claim the psychology items, at $252.99.
• Paid provisionally registered psychologists working unsupervised claim the counsellor items, at $156.16.

The 24 September edition says the same thing in its definitions of psychology and counselling supports (Pricing Schedule, 24 September edition).

Therapy assistants have their own items and suffixes. A Level 1 assistant must work under a therapist's direct supervision at all times. A Level 2 assistant can work independently if the supervising therapist is satisfied they can. Either way, they must work in a discipline listed in Appendix 4.

Which item to use: worked examples

All participants and clinicians here are made up. Prices are national unless shown, and each claim assumes the service agreement allows it.

Two things these show. Hana's home visit is three lines, not one: session, travel time and kilometres. And Hana loses 10 minutes of her trip out to the 30 minute cap. Claims for part of an hour are made for the time actually spent, so 45 minutes is 0.75 of the hourly rate (PAPL 2025-26).

What changed from 2025‑26

Sources: PAPL 2025-26, Support Catalogue 2025-26, Support Catalogue 2026-27, APR report. OT, speech pathology, physio, podiatry, counselling and therapy assistant prices didn't move.

Art and music therapy didn't change on 1 July. They dropped from $193.99 to $156.16 on 24 November 2025, in version 1.1 of the 2025-26 PAPL (PAPL 2025-26). The early version of the 2025-26 catalogue still shows $193.99, so check which file your old price list came from.

The "Other professional" cut doesn't apply to early childhood supports, which the APR said should stay at $193.99. The NDIA also wants to identify the practitioner on each claim in future (APR report).

What's still coming

A dedicated Therapy Pricing Review, including differentiated pricing for therapy, is expected to consult from late 2026 to early 2027, with findings feeding into 2027-28 prices (NDIA provider consultation paper, September 2026). The current APR consultation closes on 1 November 2026 (NDIS Engage).

Checklist for practice managers

1. Map every service to its six items. For each discipline and support category you bill, list the base item and its _TH, _NF, _RR, _CA and _PT siblings from the 2026-27 catalogue.
2. Stop using claim types on base items for anything delivered from 1 July 2026. Earlier sessions stay on 2025-26 items and prices.
3. Update service agreements to name telehealth, non-face-to-face work, NDIA reports, cancellation terms (2 clear business days or better), travel time and kilometre rates. Participants must agree to price changes.
4. Decide how you treat phone sessions and write it down.
5. Record delivery mode, start and end times, travel legs and who asked for each report. That's what tells you which item to bill, and what an auditor will ask for. Our progress notes guide covers what a good note holds.
6. Check provisional psychologists' supervision status before billing psychology items.
7. Re-price art, music, dietetics, exercise physiology and "other professional" work, and stop billing an orientation and mobility specialist as "other professional".
8. Watch for the NDIA's new claiming guidance and the Therapy Pricing Review.

If your practice software still treats a session as one line with a claim type ticked, this year will be painful. Orangised's allied health module records how each session was delivered, whether face to face, telehealth, phone or email, report, non-face-to-face work or a short notice cancellation, and bills the matching line on the NDIS price guide. A completed home visit bills the service, the travel time and the kilometres as separate lines, priced for the session's date. You still lodge the claims yourself.

This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. Check the NDIA's current documents before you claim.