Updated ACFI documents
The government has released the revised ACFI user guide and answer pack, which must be used for all assessments from February 1.
Documentation aged care providers need to implement changes to the funding instrument that come into effect next month is now available.
The revised 45-page Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) User Guide and the 13-page ACFI Answer Appraisal Pack clarify changes to the instrument made in July 2012 designed to return growth in care subsidies to historic growth rates.
The sector-approved modifications aim to fine-tune evidence requirements for questions assessing daily living assistance and pain management, which the government says reinforce the original intent of ACFI.
All appraisals done from February 1 need to be completed using the new documents (see below for links to pdfs), which reflect the following changes summarised here.
Daily living
There are changes to questions 1 – 4 in the Activities of Daily Living Domain relating to activities which may require supervision or physical assistance.
The changes reinforce the requirement that the resident has a need for the assistance being claimed at the time of assessment, rather than their future needs.
The government has not mandated any specific assessment tools but suggests using the National Framework for Documenting Care in Residential Aged Care services (NATFRAME) for ACFI questions 1 – 4.
Pain management
In the section on Complex Health Care – Pain management, the first change is to question 12.4a, where the frequency of pain management has been changed to stipulate ‘days’ rather than ‘times’ per week.
The second change is to question 12.4b, which clarifies the requirement that consistent ongoing treatment is required as opposed to treatment for transient episodes of pain.
See DOHA’s factsheet for more details about the changes effective February 1.
The sector was involved in the resulting changes through the ACFI Monitoring Group and its offshoot the ACFI Technical Reference Group.
The ACFI Monitoring group, which was established by the government to monitor the impact of the July 2012 changes on government expenditure growth, has been meeting monthly since August 2012.
New documents and useful links
The revised ACFI User Guide (pdf)
The revised ACFI Answer Appraisal Pack (pdf)
National Framework for Documenting Care in Residential Aged Care services (NATFRAME)
For further details on all things ACFI, including outcomes of the ACFI Monitoring Group’s meetings, see DOHA’s ACFI page.
It is absolutely criminal that the funding for basic care has been diminished yet one can employ a registered nurse to give massages & receive additional funding for this task. The ACFI group should hang their heads in shame for their actions to compromise the care of our elderly.
In my 30 years of working in Aged Care Mark Butler would have to have done the most damage to basic care for elderly residents.
I am about to write an assignment for my university program about the ACFI. I will be challenging its merits and discussing problems such as those mentioned above by Marion Maguire. If anybody has any further comment to add it would be much appreciated. Being a student, I am yet to understand all of the ins and outs of the system.
I have to agree with both your comments. If you ask for more care staff on the floor ( which costs considerably less than an RN ) you are told the budget cannot support that but lets hirer an RN and pay them more money so that we can get more money through ACFI. Its all about dollars not resident care
the basic ongoing care needs should be met to a certain standard. The fact that ACFI address complex pain is a good thing, the amount of elderly suffering from physical impariments causing chronic pain is huge and this needs to be addressed as it impacts their daily quality of life. How different organistaions address this varies but a RN employed is a good thing as they can treat residents with more severe ongoing comlex pain, monitor and address their overall care rather than being task driven.