In Australia, older people, in particular those over 65 years old can apply for an aged care service called Home Care Package (HCP). It’s a government subsidy and this package allocates funds to approved applicants, used for services and items to match their personal care needs and keep them living at home in a safe and happy, especially, familiar enviroment. However, management fees are also being paid by the funds.
After being assigned your Home Care Package, it’s necessary to choose an Approved Provider to host your Home Care Package. Your chosen Approved Provider will activate your referral code, which gives your access to your funding and will also assist you in managing your Home Care Package funds to best suit your needs.
The Provider will charge management fees from your Home Care Package account, and the remaining funds will be used entirely for services and items that match your care needs. The management fees include Package Management fee and Care Management fee, if you would like to know more pricing details about Happy Living Pricing, please visit: https://happyliving.com.au/pricing/
Understanding the management fees.
Like we mentioned before, there are two components contribute to the overall management fees: Package Management Fee and Care Management Fee.
Package Management Fee:
The Package Management Fee is a service cost deducted from a Home Care Package to cover administrative costs associated with managing and coordinating the services provided to you. This fee typically includes the cost of establishing and managing HCP budgets, coordinating services, and managing finances related to the Home Care Package. The Package Management Fee varies among different HCP providers and is generally charged on a regular basis, such as weekly or monthly. It is essential to understand the specific rate of this fee when selecting a HCP provider to ensure transparency and accountability in the services delivered. To check more details about government regulations of package management, please visit: https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/home-care-packages-program/managing/package-management
Care Management Fee:
The Care Management Fee is an additional charge that some care providers may apply to Home Care Packages. This fee covers the costs associated with the ongoing management and coordination of care services. It is designed to support the care provider’s efforts in ensuring a seamless and efficient delivery of personalized care, regular monitoring of the individual’s needs, and maintaining effective communication between the care team and the client’s family or representatives.
It is essential for individuals and their families to clarify whether a care management fee is applicable and to understand the scope of services covered under this fee before entering into a Home Care Package agreement. You can view the full deatails abot what’s included in the care management here: https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/home-care-packages-program/managing/care-management
Regarding the charging standards of Providers, because the government has not placed a rigid guideline on the charges associated with a Home Care Package, there is a huge range of prices within the industry. And you must be aware of the management fee of a provider to ensure your services and welfare is well-received.
Recently, we have noticed an increasingly common phenomenon about management fee changes:
If a Home Care Package holder decides to switch to another provider with more reasonable fees, the current provider will often propose a new offer, promise to significantly reduce the fees, or give you more choice of lower-priced service providers.
Happy Living is happy to see that other providers are willing to reduce costs and allow older Australians to get more services than before. We encourage those who are using a Home Care Package to ask whether the current provider can reduce the management fee rate to a reasonable range and guarantee a lower price for their service providers.
At the same time, we hope to see price cuts for all Home Care Package holders, not just for individuals who threaten to leave their current Provider.
At Happy Living we are passionate about helping all older Australians get the maximum funding from their Home Care Package. That’s why we charge such an unbeatable low fee and offer effective guidance and assistance with self-managing your Home Care Package. We charge a low flat fee of 18% for self-management service, and that is all. There are no additional expenses. We believe this is the most effective way of maximising your funding.
For this fee, we encourage our clients to get independent choice of the services they need, when they need them, and also of the people who deliver these services. That way you have more freedom to choose the service providers who match your personal requirements.
We believe our clients know best the services that they need. And in allowing our clients to do so, we also guarantee that their choice of service providers will enable them to get reasonable service fees, no hidden costs and obtain a better relationship and service experience with the people that they hire.
When we look at the amount of care service hours available, with Happy Living you could be getting double the amount as with another Provider. With Happy Living, older Australians have more funding available in their Home Care Package to spend on the services and items they need to stay at home, happily and safely for as long as possible.
If you wish to receiv more support from us, we also offer other management models such as part-management model with 22% combined management fee and full-management model with 26% combined management fee. If you need more details about our pricing, please go to this page: https://happyliving.com.au/pricing/
If you wish to have a consultation with our dedicated care consultant team, just call us at 1300 911 728 or submit a request form at https://happyliving.com.au/contact/.
