EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Ageing
Aged Care Act 1997
Classification Amendment Principles 2009 (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 96-1(1) of the Act allows the Minister to make Principles providing for various matters required or permitted by a Part or section of the Act.
The Classification Principles 1997 (the Classification Principles) is one of the sets of Principles made under the Act.
The purpose of the Classification Amendment Principles 2009 (No. 1) (the Amending Principles) is detailed below. The Amending Principles is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
The purpose of the Amending Principles is to:
- update references to documents generated by the Department of Health and Ageing in relation to the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI); and
- to address an ACFI anomaly which is causing a number of permanent residents to be classified as requiring high level care when they do not require high level care services. This anomaly is to be addressed through amendments to the definition of ‘high level of residential care’ (and a consequential amendment to the definition of ‘low level of residential care’) within the Classification Principles.
Consultation
The changes to the ACFI arrangements have been the subject of extensive consultations with consumers, approved providers and health professionals through the ACFI Technical Reference Group, the ACFI Industry Reference Group and the Ageing Consultative Committee.
Details of the amendments to the Classification Principles are listed in the Attachment.
ATTACHMENT
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1 states that the name of the Amending Principles is the Classification Amendment Principles 2009 (No. 1).
Clause 2 states that these Amending Principles commence on 1 January 2010.
Clause 3 states that Schedule 1 amends the Classification Principles 1997.
Schedule 1 Amendments
Items 1 and 4
These items amend the definitions of the ACFI Answer Appraisal Pack and User Guide. Each of these documents is developed by the Department of Health and Ageing to assist in matching funding to the complex care needs of residents. These documents assist users to answer the twelve care need questions that form part of ACFI and to collect diagnostic information about mental and behavioural disorders and other medical conditions. This information is used to categorise residents as having low, medium or high care needs in each of the following care domains: activities of daily living (ADLs); behaviour; and complex health care (CHC).
Minor changes are being made to the ACFI User Guide to further clarify specific questions, including ACFI Question 12, Items 4a and 4b, and the definition of allied health professional used for this question. The changes to the ACFI Appraisal Pack are needed to bring it into line with the ACFI User Guide, including to reflect changes relating to Question 12, Items 4a and 4b, and minor changes to the list of infectious diseases used for Question 12, Item 9.
Item 2
The Secretary for the Department of Health and Ageing classifies each permanent aged care resident into one of 65 classifications, based on the resident’s level of approval for care (determined by an Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT)) and on the provider’s appraisal of the resident using the ACFI. A resident’s classification determines the level of basic subsidy payable in respect of the resident and whether the resident is eligible to receive high or low level care.
A design anomaly in the ACFI is causing a number of permanent residents to be classified as requiring high level care when they do not require high level care services. In addition, the level of disagreement between ACAT approvals and ACFI appraisals has increased, adding to the number of requests for reassessment of residents by ACATs.
Item 2 addresses this anomaly by amending the definition of high level of residential care so that a classification would entitle a care recipient to a high level of residential care if the ACFI appraisal included:
(a) a high ADL domain category; or
(b) a high CHC domain category; or
(c) a domain category of medium or high in at least two of the three domain categories; or
(d) a high behaviour domain category and either: an ADL domain category other than nil; or a CHC domain category other than nil.
The definition of high level of residential care would also continue to include care given to a care recipient whose classification level is high level residential respite care.
Under the revised definition, some residents who are currently classified such that they are eligible for high level care, will no longer meet the requirements to receive high level residential care (because of the change to the definition of high level of residential care). To ensure that these residents do not lose their current eligibility to receive high care services if required at no charge, amendments are also being made to the Quality of Care Principles 1997.
Item 3
Item 3 makes a consequential change to the definition of low level of residential care to reflect the changes made to the definition of high level of residential care.