EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing
Aged Care Act 1997
Aged Care (Amount of Flexible Care Subsidy – Extended Aged Care at Home – Dementia) Determination 2013 (No. 1)
The Aged Care Act 1997 (the Act) provides for the regulation and funding of aged care services. Persons who are approved under the Act to provide flexible aged care services can be eligible to receive flexible care subsidy payments in respect of the care they provide to approved care recipients.
Extended Aged Care at Home - Dementia (EACHD) is a flexible care program in respect of which flexible care subsidy is payable. EACHD provides nursing and personal care services and dementia specific strategies to an aged care recipient in the care recipient’s home where the care recipient would otherwise be eligible for high level residential care.
Subsection 52-1(1) of the Act provides that the amount of flexible care subsidy that is payable in respect of a day is the amount determined by the Minister by legislative instrument or worked out in accordance with a method determined by the Minister by legislative instrument.
The purpose of the Aged Care (Amount of Flexible Care Subsidy – Extended Aged Care at Home – Dementia) Determination 2013 (No. 1) (the Determination) is to specify the method for working out the daily amount of flexible care subsidy payable in respect of an EACHD care recipient, with rates effective from 1 July 2013. The Determination ensures coverage for the period between the end of the financial year and the intended commencement of the Aged Care (Living Longer Living Better) Act 2013.
The total amount of flexible care subsidy payable in respect of an EACHD care recipient is the sum of the following four amounts as set out in the Determination:
- the basic subsidy amount of flexible care subsidy payable for a day for a care recipient receiving flexible care in the form of EACHD
- any oxygen supplement that would have been payable in respect of the EACHD care recipient if he or she was receiving residential care
- any enteral feeding supplement that would have been payable in respect of the EACHD care recipient if he or she was receiving residential care
- an additional daily amount payable to an approved provider who provides EACHD to a care recipient in a rural or remote location, provided that location has an Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA) score of 3.52 or more. The additional daily amount increases as the ARIA score (the measure of accessibility and remoteness of the geographical location at which the care recipient resides) increases.
Under the ARIA, each suburb and town in Australia is allocated a score based on its accessibility and remoteness. ARIA scores for all Australian locations are contained in the document entitled Viability Funding — ARIA scores for locations as at 30 July 1999, published by the Department of Health and Ageing.
This Determination also revokes Aged Care (Amount of Flexible Care Subsidy – Extended Aged Care at Home – Dementia) Determination 2012 (No. 1).
The difference between the Determinations is that the daily amount of flexible care subsidy payable for an EACHD care recipient has been increased in accordance with increases in the consumer price index (CPI) as a measure of movements in the non-labour costs of providers and the decisions of the Fair Work Commission as a measure of non-productivity based movements of the wage costs of providers.
Consultation
Indexation of the subsidy uses a well-established formula based on the CPI as a measure of the movements in the non-labour costs of providers and the decisions of the Fair Work Commission as a measure of non-productivity based movements of the wage costs of providers. As this is in accordance with policy upon which extensive consultation was undertaken, no specific consultation was undertaken with respect to this indexation.
Information about the increase in the amount of the subsidy will be disseminated via electronic media to approved providers.
This Determination commences on 1 July 2013.
The Determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Aged Care (Amount of Flexible Care Subsidy – Extended Aged Care at Home - Dementia) Determination 2013 (No. 1)
This Legislative Instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview of Legislative Instrument
The purpose of the Aged Care (Amount of Flexible Care Subsidy – Extended Aged Care at Home - Dementia) Determination 2013 (No. 1) (the Determination) is to specify the method for working out the amount of flexible care subsidy payable for a day in respect of an EACHD care recipient, with effect from 1 July 2013. This Determination also revokes the Aged Care (Amount of Flexible Care Subsidy – Extended Aged Care at Home - Dementia) Determination 2012 (No. 1).
Human Rights Implications
This Legislative Instrument promotes the human right to health contained in article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. The legislative instrument engages the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health by ensuring that the flexible care subsidy payable to approved providers in respect of an EACHD care recipient, is increased in line with the increase in the non‑labour costs of providers and the decisions of the Fair Work Commission as a measure of non-productivity based movements of the wage costs of providers. This helps to ensure that the standard of care and services provided to recipients of flexible aged care services is maintained.
Conclusion
This legislative instrument is compatible with human rights as it promotes the human right to health.
The Hon. Mark Butler MP, Minister for Mental Health and Ageing