EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Subject - Aged Care Amendment (Residential Care) Act 2007
Proclamation
Subsection 2 (1) of the Aged Care Amendment (Residential Care) Act 2007 (the amending Act) provides that Schedule 1 to the Act commences on a day to be fixed by proclamation. However, if any of the provisions of Schedule 1 do not commence within 12 months from the day on which the Act receives the Royal Assent, they commence on the first day after the end of that period. The Act received the Royal Assent on 28 June 2007.
The purpose of the Proclamation is to fix 20 March 2008 as the day on which Schedule 1 to the Act commences.
Schedule 1 to the Act amends the Aged Care Act 1997 (the Act) to support proposed amendments to the Classification Principles 1997 made under subsection 96-1(1) of the Act to replace the Resident Classification Scale (RCS) with the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) as the means of allocating subsidy to providers of residential aged care.
The ACFI will reduce the number of funding levels for personal care in residential aged care and better target funding for the care of residents with complex health and nursing needs, including palliative care, and for residents who have mental or behavioural conditions, including dementia. The ACFI has been designed to reduce the amount of documentation and record-keeping which aged care staff generate and maintain in order to justify the funding classification for each resident.
The peak industry bodies were consulted regarding the proposed commencement date, which was announced on 11 February 2007.
The Proclamation is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.