EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
AGED CARE ACT 1997
Flexible Care (Transition Care) Subsidy Amount Determination 2005
The Aged Care Act 1997 (“the Act”) provides for the 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.
Subsection 50-2(1) of the Act provides that the Flexible Care Subsidy Principles may specify the kinds of care for which flexible care subsidy may be payable. The Flexible Care Subsidy Principles 1997 presently provide for three types of flexible care. These kinds of care include extended aged care at home services, multi-purpose services and innovative care services. A further category, transition care, is being included in those Principles through the Flexible Care Subsidy Amendment Principles 2005 (No.1).
Paragraph 52-1(1)(a) provides that the Minister may determine in writing the amount of the Flexible Care Subsidy.
The present Determination (“the Determination”) sets the amount of flexible care subsidy that is payable for flexible care in the form of transition care.
Regulation impact statement
The Office of Regulation Review (ORR) assessed the proposed amendments and determined that the preparation of a Regulation Impact Statement was not required (ORR ID number 7299)
Consultation
The parameters of transition care have been developed through a consultation process with State and Territory Government representatives. All States and Territories were included in a Transition Care Task Group, along with appropriate clinical representatives. The Task Group was consulted prior to setting the amount of the subsidy, which took into account the issues the Group raised. The Task Group accepted the amount set.
ATTACHMENT
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1 provides that the Determination is to be cited as the Flexible Care (Transition Care) Subsidy Amount Determination 2005.
Clause 2 provides that the Determination commences on 1 July 2005.
Clause 3 provides definitions of “Act”, which means the Aged Care Act 1997, and “transition care”, which has the meaning given by section 15.28 of the Flexible Care Subsidy Principles 1997 (introduced in the Flexible Care Subsidy Amendment Principles 2005 (No. 1) ).
Subclause 4(1) sets out the amount of the flexible care (transition care) subsidy which is payable to an approved provider in respect of a day and a care recipient who is provided with flexible care in the form of transition care on that day, as being $102.77.
Subclause 4(2) is intended to overcome a potential inconsistency with a previous determination made under paragraph 52-1(b) of the Act on 23 June 2004, and known as “ACA Ch.3 No. 17/2004”. While the determination known as “ACA Ch.3 No. 17/2004” only applied to flexible care subsidy payable for flexible care provided in the form of extended aged care at home or multi-purpose services, the language of the determination could be interpreted to suggest that it exhaustively determines the amounts of flexible care subsidy.