The Aged Care industry will have a reform in July 2023:
Purpose of Support at Home Program
Seniors who are currently holding Home Care Packages (HCP) or are applying for it, shall not worry, this is a positive reform. Australian seniors will be the beneficiary. By mid-2023, the Australian government has given us more than a year to learn, understand, and adapt to the new program. This article will introduce government’s major reforms in Aged Care.
What is gratifying is that many reformations are already being implemented by Happy Living. Because we have always been the pioneers and guardians of the rules in the industry, the existing management and the new reformations are highly compatible, include:
- Greater choice and flexibility
- Improved safety and quality of care
- Service list
New Reformation 1: Greater choice and flexibility
Current :
HCP recipients must select one approved provider to take full responsibility for the delivery of care under their package. This can involve delivering the full suite of care in-house or managing a series of sub-contractors to deliver care.
Proposed:
The new regulatory model would enable senior Australians self-manage their care, including using multiple service providers if they choose.
The Support at Home Program would offer services and a choice of provider, where available, to all senior Australians, regardless of their geographic location. Under the traditional case management model, the subsidy management agency can only provide its own internal nursing staff for the elderly to use, and the elderly cannot use the service provider they choose.
This is exactly what Happy Living has been insisting on accomplishing. At the beginning of Happy Life, the Self-Management model was our main model. The biggest difference in this model is the choice of service provider.
Under the traditional case management model, the provider can only provide own internal support workers, and there is no other choice.
For example, some cleaning services cost $50 an hour or even $55 an hour, and the elderly can only use it and have no choice. Self-management allows the elderly to find their favorited support workers. In the case of price competition, it may be $40 or $45 an hour. It saves $10 per hour, or $1040 a year if seniors have two hours per week. In this way, the cost of a physiotherapy or TCM physiotherapy can be completely saved, and the elderly’s body care can be more comprehensive.
New Reformation 2: Improved safety and quality of care
Current:
The Aged Care Act and regulations focus on regulating aged care facilities rather than safeguards for the elderly.
Proposed:
A regulatory model is being applied to ensure a consistent level of risk management across providers offering multiple services. For example, complex services will be more regulated. The model will support the delivery of safe and high-quality aged care services in home care settings. The reform will be clear and understandable to ensure efficiency and effectiveness and, where appropriate, align with regulation in other areas of the care and support sector.
For example, if the elderly are at high risk of falling and need a lot of assistance with walking or pain treatment. At this time, the elderly can use the Part Management and Full Management of Happy Living to avoid risks. Most of care manager of PM and FM are registered nurses or registered social workers, their professional background could help to minimise risk of falling. Of course, if the elderly have the ability to reduce pain by arranging their own services, they can still choose Self Management model.
New Reformation 3: Service List
Real case: A couple both have HCP living in Melbourne. The provider did not provide a list of service providers. They said that there was no suitable support worker in the area where the elderly lived. At the request of the two elderly people, provider finally arranged for a support worker to come and clean the house. It took one hour, and then cooked for 2 elderly people, making 400 grams of noodles (ready-made noodles), and it took 2 hours to cook the noodles. In this way, the calculation service time for the two elderly people becomes 3 hours.
In the end, the couple was disappointed and told us that our husband and wife spent $1,000 in service fees for 2 months, but after 2 months, we ate a few instant noodles.
Proposed:
Greater clarity of services
The Support at Home Program would have a Service List to provide greater clarity on the services available to senior Australians at a Commonwealth Government subsidised cost.
Happy Living is proud to say that we have done this 3 years ago and each of our new clients comes with a complete guide detailing the services new clients can choose from.
In addition, our care manager will formulate reasonable care plan according to the care needs.
If you receive HCP, please have a look if there are any service fee rather than management fee. Because many seniors who switched to Happy Living said that in the previous providers, they encountered a list of non-providing services, but suddenly various service fees appeared in the statement, such as service coordination fee, reimbursement coordination fee, billing, exit fees, etc.
At Happy Living, we only charge one fee, the statement fee, which is a fixed fee, without any other hidden service fees. This is our specialty and our commitment. To check our fees click here: Pricing
At the end of the article, we are very pleased to see the implement of a new aged care program, because the elderly will receive fairer treatment and retain more subsidy.
You are welcome to contact Happy Living. Our customer service number is 1300 911 728 (Mandarin, Cantonese, English).
We have many years of industry experience and look forward to helping you!
Resource：https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/aged-care-reforms
