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 – Innovative Care Services) Determination 2012 (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 care recipients.
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. Subsection 52‑1(2) of the Act provides that the Minister may determine rates of flexible care subsidy based on any matters determined by the Minister by legislative instrument.
The purpose of the Aged Care (Amount of Flexible Care Subsidy – Innovative Care Services) Determination 2012 (No. 1) is to specify the amount of flexible care subsidy payable in respect of different types of innovative care, including consumer directed care. Implemented in selected Australian Government community aged care programs in July 2010, consumer (or self) directed care allows people to have greater control over their lives by allowing them, to the extent that they are capable and wish to do so, to make choices about the types of care services they access and the delivery of those services, including who will deliver the services and when they will be delivered.
For the avoidance of doubt, this does not apply to a care recipient receiving innovative care services of a kind specified in section 15.24 of the Flexible Care Subsidy Principles 1997 for which flexible care subsidy is payable under the Aged Care (Amount of Flexible Care Subsidy – Innovative Care Service – Congress Community Development and Education Unit Ltd) Determination 2012 (No. 1).
This Determination revokes Aged Care (Amount of Flexible Care Subsidy – Innovative Care Services) Determination 2011 (No. 1). However, the intention is that the approach to the amount of subsidy payable for consumer directed care will remain the same. References will be updated to ensure that the amount of flexible care subsidy payable for consumer directed care will continue to be linked to community care subsidy and flexible care subsidy payable for Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) and Extended Aged Care at Home – Dementia (EACHD), so that:
- for consumer directed low care – the amount of subsidy will be the same as the community care subsidy amount which is worked out in accordance with Aged Care (Community Care Subsidy Amount) Determination 2012 (No. 1)
- for consumer directed high care – the amount of subsidy will be the same as the flexible care subsidy amount for extended aged care at home (EACH) which is worked out in accordance with Aged Care (Amount of Flexible Care Subsidy – Extended Aged Care at Home) Determination 2012 (No. 1)
- for consumer directed high care dementia – the amount of subsidy will be the same as the flexible care subsidy amount for extended aged care at home – dementia (EACHD) which is worked out in accordance with Aged Care (Amount of Flexible Care Subsidy – Extended Aged Care at Home - Dementia) Determination 2012 (No. 1).
This Determination also sets the flexible care subsidy rate, from 1 July 2012, for the provision of disability ageing in place services provided by eight approved providers who originally received allocations of places through the Aged Care Innovative Pool in 2003 and 2004. This subsidy enables those care recipients to continue receiving the additional care and services for as long as they are living in state or territory government funded disability supported accommodation. The daily amount of flexible care subsidy payable for care provided in the form of innovative care in respect of these places is increased each year in accordance with increases to the consumer price index (CPI) as a measure of movements in the non-labour costs of providers and the decisions of Fair Work Australia as a measure of non-productivity based movements of the wage costs of providers.
Consultation
The need for increased flexibility, choice and control in aged care for consumers emerged from previous reviews of community aged care and the Australian Government’s consultations on the National Health and Hospitals Network.
Indexation of the subsidy is in accordance with the general policy for indexation of aged care payments 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 relevant approved providers.
This Determination commences on 1 July 2012.
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 – Innovative Care Services) Determination 2012 (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 the Legislative Instrument
The purpose of the Aged Care (Amount of Flexible Care Subsidy – Innovative Care Services) Determination 2012 (No. 1) is to specify the amount of flexible care subsidy payable in respect of different types of innovative care, including consumer directed care.
Human rights implications
This Legislative Instrument does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
This Legislative Instrument is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.
Mark Butler
Minister for Mental Health and Ageing