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

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

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.”

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

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.

Contact Centre average call waiting times Waiting Time (Seconds)

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.

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.

Home Care Reforms The Increasing Choice in Home Care was announced in the 2015-16 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

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

Prioritisation of access to home care

Overview of Consumer Journey

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

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

Consultation, co-design and resources Department of Health website Aged Care Webinars www.agedcare.health.gov.au www.agedcare.health.gov.au/agedcarewebinars Advice to the Aged Care Industry Department of Health YouTube Subscribe at: www.youtube.com/user/healthgovau www.agedcare.health.gov.au/agedcareupdates Aged Care Reform Enquiries My Aged Care agedcarereformenquiries@health.gov.au www.myagedcare.gov.au

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