Sometimes we might ask for more information.
We can ask you to:
- give us more information that we need to approve your plan
- get an assessment of your support needs, usually from an allied health professional, and send us the report
- get a medical, psychiatric, or psychological examination and send us the report.
For example, we might need more information if you have complex care needs. We could ask you to get an assessment from an occupational therapist. This will help us understand your support needs at home and in the community. It also helps us work out what supports to fund in your plan.
We can also ask someone else to give us information we need to create and approve your plan. For example, we can ask your doctor, or the people who support you, to give us information.
When we ask for more information or to get an assessment, we’ll tell you:
- what you need to do
- what information we need
- how you can send us the information
- when you need to give us the information.
We must give you a reasonable opportunity, and a reasonable amount of time, to give us this information. The sooner you can give us the information, the sooner we can create and approve your plan.
Your plan will include funding for any assessments or examinations we ask for. If we need independent information about you, we avoid any conflicts of interest as much as possible. This means we usually won’t choose an assessor you know.
We only ask for an assessment or examination if:
- it will help us create your plan
- we don’t already have the information
- the benefits outweigh the time and cost.
You don’t have to give us this information or get these assessments. But without them, we might not have enough information to understand and approve the supports you need.
Sometimes, we might need to approve your plan before you give us this information. We could then change your plan once you have the assessments and reports for other supports, such as high cost assistive technology.
Learn more about changing your plan.