The requirements outlined in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) add new layers of complexity, and healthcare providers across Australia struggle to keep up. According to the NDIS Provider Outlook Report 2025, 76% of providers said navigating the system takes time away from delivering care. 63% cite excessive regulatory requirements as a significant administrative burden. Given these requirements and the added administrative pressure they add, what is the best way for healthcare providers to demonstrate their compliance with NDIS?

Increasingly, healthcare providers have turned to compliance software solutions to understand NDIS requirements better and to help them implement simple formalized processes, governance procedures, and checks to ensure compliance.

How Providers Can Comply with NDIS Requirements

To comply with NDIS core practice standards, providers must implement best-practice processes in areas such as:

  • Patient rights adherence, including dignity, privacy, and informed choice
  • Governance and operational management
  • Risk management
  • Incident handling
  • Feedback and complaints handling
  • Support planning and delivery

Additional requirements include:

  • Conducting regular audits to ensure compliance with practice standards
  • Following the NDIS code of conduct and training staff on the requirements
  • Maintaining proper patient records, plans, consent forms, incident logs, and service agreements
  • Facilitating worker screening and contractor management
  • Reporting serious incidents (such as injury, abuse, and death) to the commission

Organizations can register with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission via their portal to become NDIS certified.

Is NDIS registration mandatory?

Providers must register with the NDIS if they deliver certain support and services to participants, particularly patients with higher risk or complex needs. They must also register if the NDIA manages the participant’s plan. However, some providers remain unregistered to avoid audits and paperwork, even when doing so could limit patient access. Unregistered providers still have NDIS obligations, including adhering to the NDIS Code of Conduct, Worker Screening Checks, and effective systems for managing complaints and incidents. While registered providers typically spend from 4% to 6% of their revenue on compliance, non-registered providers may bypass these costs and still offer the same services, without official certification. To level the playing field and protect care quality, the NDIS will likely require all providers to register in the coming years.

What are the main challenges faced by NDIS providers?

The NDIS Provider Outlook Report 2025 revealed widespread concerns over regulatory complexity, staff-related pressures, and operational inefficiencies:

  • 70% of providers expressed concerns about financial stability, with 67% reporting operational losses.
  • 50% voiced concerns about adapting to regulatory, risk, and compliance changes.
  • 50% cited staff engagement, recruitment, and retention as a concern.
  • 45% were worried about operational efficiency and effectiveness.

NDIS providers must address these critical challenges to ensure long-term financial viability, staffing needs, and effectiveness of care delivery.

How can providers align their processes with NDIS requirements?

To stay compliant with NDIS rules, providers must manage complex, overlapping requirements – from patient documentation and staff training to risk reporting. Specialized software can usually help providers formalize these processes and generate proof of compliance for regulators. Here is how healthcare providers can use software to meet core NDIS requirements efficiently and consistently:

1. Collate proof of compliance.

Organizations must document how they fulfil their obligations to meet NDIS requirements. Providers should build an obligations library, capturing the requirements and compliance actions. Examples include processes, such as documenting patient care, policies and procedures, inspections, and staff training. They must fully document these actions and processes, checking them regularly to ensure they meet the compliance requirements. Ideally, they should map each obligation to the relevant compliance process to adapt to new regulatory amendments and update their policies and procedures accordingly.

GRC software makes it easy to automate NDIS compliance in one centralized platform. It offers out-of-the-box frameworks and templates to build an ‘obligations register’ and document compliance actions. You can also automate policy updates, approvals, and attestations – and manage regulatory change more easily. Staff can attest to policies and training online, allowing providers to document training completion.

2. Implement effective risk management practices.

Robust operational and enterprise risk management procedures are essential for compliance, preventing disruptions, and ensuring patient safety. Organizations must identify, categorize, and rate risks, maintain risk registers, set key risk indicators, and actively monitor risk levels through regular risk assessments. NDIS providers must also identify and assess controls to keep risk levels within the organization’s risk appetite and tolerance. Providers should test and check these controls regularly to ensure they are effective. GRC software can fully automate specific risk management processes, producing insightful reports on risk exposure and control effectiveness. These automations can streamline processes, including risk assessments, escalations, signoffs, control checks, testing, and remediation actions.

3. Formalize incident reporting processes.

Addressing incidents, hazards, and near misses in the healthcare sector is essential to protect patients and maintain operational efficiency. The NDIS provides guidance on incident reporting to support providers in effectively capturing and addressing unexpected incidents. Providers need formal processes for staff to log incidents, hazards, and near misses, and they must have clearly defined escalation routes.

GRC software enables staff to log incidents via online forms, feeding all data into the platform. Form fields automatically change based on the type of incident logged, and staff can easily upload photos and evidence. Automated workflows facilitate escalation and resolution. Teams can efficiently conduct root cause investigations, report on incident trends, and align with NDIS guidelines. Workflows can also identify serious incidents that need reporting to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.

4. Capture feedback and complaints.

NDIS provides clear guidance, capturing feedback so providers can effectively resolve patient care issues. Many NDIS providers use software to build an online portal to capture patient concerns. Patients, families, and staff can log feedback and complaints with an option to remain anonymous. They complete the details using online forms, with all data feeding into the platform. Workflows escalate each case to the relevant person, and all remediation actions are captured in the platform, keeping all involved parties informed of the progress.

5. Implement structured processes to ensure care aligns with NDIS guidelines.

Delivering care that meets NDIS guidelines requires structured, well-documented processes. With the right compliance software, staff can create individual records and document each patient’s needs thoroughly. They can also use the system to log patient communication and use checklists to verify the completion of patient care tasks. This level of documentation enables leadership to implement more governance and rules regarding patient care.

6. Audit your processes against NDIS requirements.

Software can also fully automate the audit process for approved NDIS providers. Teams create audit templates using standardized fields and checklists aligned with NDIS criteria. Effective software typically allows providers to modify these fields to suit their bespoke needs. The automated workflows can then:

  • Schedule audits in the system
  • Circulate the audit forms
  • Send reminders for overdue actions

Real-time data entry during the audit gives leadership immediate insight into status, non-conformances, and remediation steps. Team members can then extract the data from the system and share it with regulators.

Using Software to Manage all NDIS Requirements

A unified software platform is one of the most effective tools for ensuring NDIS compliance and preparing for audits. By using a GRC platform to implement best-practice processes like risk and incident management, feedback gathering, policy management, and audit preparation, NDIS providers can be confident that they meet their regulatory requirements.

Managing those different areas holistically in one platform allows NDIS providers to:

  • Map risks to related incidents
  • Link risks to controls
  • Associate patient feedback with compliance and audits

These correlations provide valuable insights to improve operations, reduce risk, and identify compliance gaps.

Effective GRC software supports the complete range of compliance activities. It helps compliance practitioners save time by using automated workflows, templates, and frameworks. Its dashboards enable more detailed performance insights and keep tasks and actions in front of staff members. It can also simplify your NDIS audit by allowing providers to share compliance documentation with regulators. With everything documented and centralized, providers can approach NDIS compliance with greater confidence and control.

See how GRC software can simplify your NDIS compliance. Request a demo.