NDIS review: Art and music therapy deemed effective for people with disability

Plans to drastically slash the amount that art and music therapists can charge through the ballooning National Disability Insurance Scheme have been shelved, as an independent review found the treatments were effective and beneficial for people with disabilities.

The review into the alternative therapies, led by health economist Stephen Duckett and released on Wednesday, found the practices were “effective and beneficial in the right circumstances”, a statement at odds with claims last year from the National Disability Insurance Agency that there was limited evidence about the treatments’ efficacy.

The amount providers can charge will fall by 20 per cent, from $194-per-hour to $156, after the review found the current charge was “too high” and should fall in line with the cost for counsel