The North Coast Creative Therapies Pilot will be delivered via a fee-for-service model, with creative therapy Providers being paid per session or per unit of service delivered.

The fee-for-service model includes a flat rate per session, with the contracted Creative Therapy Providers billing HNC under an individual contract agreement. The North Coast Creative Therapies Pilot will be delivered via a blend of onsite using practitioner’s studio, in-reach, outreach and co-location models. Regional loading allocation is included to the fee structure for Providers to identify during billing if services have been delivered off site. See EOI: Section A for more details.

North Coast Creative Therapies Providers will be eligible to deliver 10 sessions per client per financial year. The preferred model for Model 1 is to deliver the first seven sessions to clients individually and the final three sessions in the episode of care should be offered as group sessions. If the client does not wish to participate in group sessions, the final three sessions can be delivered as individual.

Clients are not eligible to receive additional episodes of care in the same financial year, unless deemed appropriate by the Medicare Mental Health Phone Service.

Across the North Coast region, mental health and wellbeing intake, assessment, and referrals are coordinated through a centralised system known as the Medicare Mental Health Phone Service. This program is operated by Healthy North Coast and the Referral Spoke service supports the mapping and management of referral pathways across the region.

In rare circumstances, such as when clients face significant risks due to limited service access or extended wait times, Healthy North Coast may allocate additional sessions to support care needs.

This decision is made internally by Healthy North Coast and managed via the Medicare Mental Health Phone Service. It is not something that providers can request directly.

All referrals under Model 1 of the North Coast Creative Therapies Pilot will be managed by Healthy North Coast’s Medicare Mental Health Phone service from service establishment until 30 June 2026. Referrals will come via an agreed secure message format and creative therapies providers will have the opportunity to decline or accept the referral. From 1 July 2026 referrals will be directly managed by Healthy North Coast through the Medicare Mental Health Phone Service.

Providers must hold current Accreditation with Australian and New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association (ANZACATA) or Australian Music Therapy Association (AMTA).

Workforce is made up of sub-contracting providers that hold current and valid accreditation against ANZACATA and AMTA. 

Providers operating under the North Coast Creative Therapy Pilot will be responsible for delivering services in line with the terms and conditions outlined in this agreement with Healthy North Coast. This responsibility will include:

• Delivering the Service in a manner consistent with the service delivery model requirements
• Operating within professional requirements, including operating within the scope of practice as per qualifications and credentials via ANZACATA and AMTA
• Compliance with Healthy North Coast reporting requirements
• Managing quality of care, patients safety and clinical effectiveness.

Providers will be required to:

• Notify HNC of any clinical incidents or deaths relating to the clients, staff or family members engaged in the North Coast Creative Therapies Pilot or services or interventions delivered by the Provider
• Provide notification to HNC within 24 hours of the incident or death occurring, using the template supplied by HNC
• Provide further information on the clinical incident within 7 days of the incident occurring, using the HNC 7-day incident notification template. HNC may provide recommendations or feedback on the management of the incident in writing, to support mitigation or avoidance of future incidents.

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (DHDA) have established governance structures for the term of the Creative Therapies Pilot. The program is to be overseen by an expert advisory group and will be independently evaluated.

The expert advisory group includes representatives from ANZACATA, AMTA, people with lived and living experience, Primary Health Networks, Carers, and representatives from DHDA.

Providers are required to:

• Ensure all staff delivering proposed services are trained in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural awareness in line with National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) Standards for cultural awareness training and/or RACGP cultural awareness education and cultural safety training
• Have in place, or demonstrate a strong commitment to, ongoing development and review of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural safety ensuring culturally safe services as defined by those who receive the services
• Ensure all staff delivering the services understand their responsibilities to the needs of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD), LGBTQ+ and other vulnerable communities
• Ensure services are safe and inclusive for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD), LGBTQ+ and other vulnerable communities
• Ensure there is meaningful engagement with diverse groups to guide and support clinical and service development decision making to ensure cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities as well as safety for CALD, LGBTQ+ and other vulnerable communities.

The program will be evaluated over the term of the pilot by the University of Queensland.

An evaluation and reporting framework has been developed by University of Queensland. Providers will be required to align with the evaluation and collect specified outcome measures accordingly.

The evaluation and reporting framework are currently in draft and Healthy North Coast and the Creative Therapies providers will be required to support the overall evaluation and reporting framework and evaluation over the term of the Creative Therapies Pilot. At this stage, assessment tools that will be applied across the Pilot include assessment of psychological wellbeing via K10/5 and assessment of daily functioning via RAS-DS or connectedness scale.

All providers entering into a commissioned service contract with HNC will be required to submit

• Quarterly Project Status Reports (template provided by HNC)
• Quarterly Financial Acquittal Reports (template provided by HNC)
• Annual audited financial acquittal reports (on the Provider’s independent auditor template)