1. aged care reform Shona McQueen
Assistant Secretary, Home Care Reform Branch
Australian Government Department of Health
1 September 2016

2. What we will cover today
Update on My Aged Care
Reforms to home care services
Further information and resources

3. My Aged Care
“To make it easier for older people, their families, and carers to access information on ageing and aged care, have their needs assessed and be supported to locate and access services available to them.”

4. Achievements so far ….
Clients can access aged care services through a central point
Web-based portals support clients, assessors and service providers
Consistent holistic assessments focussed on identifying client needs
Enhancements to the My Aged Care website
Improvements to the client experience

5. My Aged Care Operational Statistics
From 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016, there have been approximately:
691,000 calls answered by the My Aged Care contact centre
294,000 pieces of correspondence
289,000 clients have registered on My Aged Care
325,000 completed assessments
350,000 accepted service referrals
3 million visits to the My Aged Care website.

6. Contact Centre average call waiting times
Waiting Time (Seconds)

7. Quality Enhancement
Focus is now on quality of the end-to-end process – in the contact centre, with our assessors and working with you as our providers.

8. Heading to 2017
As the entry point to Aged Care for clients, we are focussed on quality and the maintenance of a stable and effective platform from which we can all support the consumer experience.
We will all have an important role in this as consumers are further empowered to make informed choices about their care and services as we move into a consumer-driven market place.

9. Home Care Reforms
The Increasing Choice in Home Care was announced in the Budget and will commence on 27 February 2017
The home care package will follow the consumer
Consistent national approach to prioritising access to home care
Reduce red tape and regulation for providers

10. Funding will follow the consumer
Provider A
(aged care planning region X)
Provider B
(aged care planning region Y)
Consumer ✔ ✔ ✔
Home care package, including any unspent funds, move with consumer
Home care package moves with the consumer, including unspent funds
No ACAR for home care
Providers can expand to accept additional consumers, including from other regions

11. Prioritisation of access to home care

12. Overview of Consumer Journey

13. Changes to approved provider arrangements
Legislative criteria for becoming an approved provider will be streamlined
Existing providers of residential care and flexible care will be able to ‘opt in’ to become approved providers of home care
Approved provider status will commence immediately and will not lapse
These changes will apply to all care types – not just home care
All approved providers will need to meet relevant quality and accreditation standards

14. Ensuring quality Driving performance and encouraging innovation
Single set of aged care standards
Streamlined quality assessment
Quality Indicators and information
Driving performance
and encouraging innovation

15. Consultation, co-design and resources
Department of Health website
Aged Care Webinars
Advice to the Aged Care Industry
Department of Health YouTube
Subscribe at:
Aged Care Reform Enquiries
My Aged Care

16. Thank you Shona McQueen Assistant Secretary, Home Care Reform Branch
Australian Government Department of Health
1 September 2016