The single question that determines which providers you can actually use — and most people find out about it after they have already chosen one.
There are three ways an NDIS plan can be managed, and the difference matters most at exactly one moment: when you are choosing a provider.
You receive the funds and pay providers yourself, then claim through the my NDIS participant portal.
Who you can use: anyone. Registered or unregistered, any provider you choose.
What you handle: paying invoices, claiming, keeping records, and negotiating your own rates — you are not bound by the NDIS price limits, though most providers charge at them.
The trade-off: maximum choice, maximum admin. It suits people who want a specific provider, or who live somewhere with few registered options.
A plan manager, funded separately in your plan at no cost to your other budgets, receives and pays the invoices for you.
Who you can use: anyone, registered or unregistered.
What you handle: almost nothing financially. Your provider invoices the plan manager directly.
The trade-off: nearly all the choice of self-management with very little of the admin. For most people this is the practical option, and it is worth asking for at your next plan meeting if you do not have it.
The NDIA pays providers directly on your behalf.
Who you can use: NDIS-registered providers only. This is the restriction that catches people out.
What you handle: nothing financially.
The trade-off: simplest administratively, smallest pool of providers. In regional areas, and for allied health specifically, that pool can be genuinely small — many experienced sole practitioners are not registered, because registration is a substantial administrative and audit burden for a one-person practice.
This is worth being clear about, because the word "unregistered" does a lot of unhelpful work.
Every practising occupational therapist in Australia must be registered with AHPRA. That is the clinical registration and it is not optional — it governs qualifications, professional standards, insurance and conduct.
NDIS registration is a separate, additional process about the business: audits, policies, quality systems. A sole practitioner can be an experienced, AHPRA-registered, fully insured OT and choose not to carry NDIS registration because the audit cost is disproportionate for a one-person practice.
If you are self- or plan-managed, this distinction costs you nothing. If you are NDIA-managed, it limits who you can see.
Any practice that is uncomfortable answering those six questions has told you something useful.
Yes, at a plan review, and sometimes between reviews by requesting a plan variation. If your management type is preventing you from seeing the provider you want, that is a legitimate thing to raise.
Peninsula Pathways works with self-managed and plan-managed participants. Fees are set out in your service agreement before anything starts, and current capacity is published on the referrals page.
Self-managed and plan-managed both let you use any provider. NDIA-managed limits you to NDIS-registered providers.
Plan management is funded separately in your plan and does not come out of your other budgets.
Every practising OT must hold AHPRA registration. NDIS registration is a separate business-level process and is only relevant if you are NDIA-managed.
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