Cost of care study for 2013/14 budget

Peak body, ACSA, has used its 2013/14 Federal Budget submission to revisit its recommendation for a cost of care study. It also wants providers to receive financial help with business planning, among other things.

The peak body for mission-based aged care providers, Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA), has used its 2013-14 Federal Budget submission to again call on the federal government to undertake a study across Australia to understand the true costs of providing aged care services that people want and need.

ACSA’s budget submission, released this week, details 25 recommendations including a request for the Aged Care Financing Authority to be commissioned to undertake a nationwide cost-of-care study, including in regional, rural and remote locations.

It asks for video consultations and eHealth technologies be broadly supported as a regular process and be accessible, secure and reliable.

The body recommends that the “modest sum” of $5 million dollars be set aside in the 2013/14 budget to provide small stand alone urban providers grants, which could fund the development their business plan that will help them manage financial pressures and to optimise viability in areas with low populations of older people.

ACSA also says for business and financial planning to enable these providers will enable them to make decisions and plan for future operations.

“The government needs to understand the real costs to aged care providers and how its Living Longer. Living Better reforms are affecting services,” ACSA CEO said Adj Prof John Kelly AM said.

“Changes to the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) and the Aged Care Workforce announcement have added to the financial costs for already financially strained aged care providers.

“Mission-based aged care organisations deliver about 70 per cent of aged care services in Australia and there is an ever-increasing expectation by governments that the sector will deliver services on their behalf to maximise efficiencies.”

“If the proposed gateway to aged care services is to work effectively it must be fully integrated with Centrelink, Medicare and relevant federal and state government health related agencies,” Professor Kelly said.

“ACSA also asks that the government consider an innovative funding method to meet the additional costs of providing services in rural, regional and remote Australia.

The budget submission is available here: www.agedcare.org.au/campaigns/acsa-submissions/acsa-2013-14-federal-budget-submission/view

Tags: acfa, acsa, aged-care-financing-authority, budget, cost-of-care, ehealth, federal-budget, technologies,

1 thought on “Cost of care study for 2013/14 budget

  1. Like the Hogan Review of ten years ago? There are some lessons to be learned from that experiences and they are not all encouraging .

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement