EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Ageing
Aged Care Act 1997
Aged Care (Amount of flexible care subsidy – multi-purpose services)
Amendment Determination 2008 (No. 1)
The Aged Care Act 1997 (the Act) provides for the funding of aged care services. Persons who are approved under the Act to provide residential aged care services (approved providers) can be eligible to receive residential care subsidy payments in respect of the care they provide to approved care recipients.
Subsection 52-1(1) of the Act provides that the Minister for Ageing may determine, in writing, the amount of the flexible care subsidy in respect of a day, or a method that must be used to work out the amount of flexible care subsidy.
In accordance with paragraph 52-1(1)(b) of the Act, the Aged Care (Amount of flexible care subsidy – multi-purpose services) Determination 2007 (No. 2) (ACA Ch. 3 No. 23/2007) (the Determination) specifies the method for working out the amount of flexible care subsidy payable to a multi-purpose service (MPS) under section 51-1 of the Act.
The Aged Care (Amount of flexible care subsidy – multi-purpose services)
Amendment Determination 2008 (No. 1) (the Amending Determination) amends subsection 6(1) of the Determination.
Currently section 6 of the Determination provides that a multi-purpose service meets the requirements of the subsection if the service achieves a certain number of points, using the scoring system detailed in a table at the bottom of section 6.
The table specifies different points in relation to various criteria. One of the criteria is that there are a certain number of concessional or assisted residents in the residential care service.
This Amending Determination amends this reference to concessional or assisted residents so that it also includes ‘supported’ residents.
This is a consequential amendment that results from the creation of a new class of residents (supported residents) for which residential care subsidy is payable under Chapter 3 of the Act. The concept of supported residents resulted from amendments to the Act that were made through the Aged Care Amendment (2008 Measures No. 1) Act 2008.
The Amending Determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
Consultation
The Department of Health and Ageing undertook extensive consultation on the policy that is implemented through the Aged Care Amendment (2008 Measures No. 1) Act 2008 which amends the Aged Care Act 1997. This Determination results from these amendments.