EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Residential Care Services
Additional Payment
Aged Care (Consequential Provisions) Act 1997.
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 are eligible to receive residential care subsidy payments in respect of the care they provide to approved care recipients. These subsidy payments are made in accord with Part 3.1 of the Act.
An additional one-off payment of $1,000 per resident to approved providers of residential aged care is made under Sn 60 of the Aged Care (Consequential Provisions) Act 1997 which enables the Minister, by instrument in writing, to specify circumstances in which additional amounts are payable in respect of residential care services in respect of which residential care subsidy is payable under section 43-1 of the Aged Care Act 1997 (the Act).
The payment is made to each approved provider which holds an operational allocation of residential aged care places on the date the payments are certified. The payment of $1 000 for each recipient of residential aged care is calculated on the basis of whichever is the greater of the following:
(a) the number of care recipients in respect of whom the approved provider of the service was eligible for residential care subsidy on 31 March 2005;
(b) the daily average number of care recipients in respect of whom the approved provider of the service was eligible for residential care subsidy during the payment period ending on 30 April 2005.
This payment is in recognition of three areas of challenge facing providers of residential aged care. These challenges are:
- the introduction of information technology applications to enhance the provision of clinical care to residents and associated staff training in the use of these applications;
- training in the provision of care appropriate for people living with dementia;
- the need to develop increasingly sophisticated business skills, including the development of a capacity to meet General Purpose Financial Reporting requirements, as a foundation for the efficient provision of quality aged care services.
Where all the approved provider’s information technology and training requirements have been met, the payment may be used to improve the quality and range of residential aged care services as defined under the Act. It is expected that all payments will be expended by providers by 31 December 2006.
Consultation: Prior to the payment Approved Providers were notified in writing of the payment and its purposes by the Minister for Ageing and the Department of Health and Ageing advised all eligible providers of the payment and accountability arrangements.