Delivered time increases despite occupancy rise
Delivered care time has continued its upward trend, Mirus Australia’s May analysis shows, and the looming deadline should accelerate the increase, says Tyler Fisher.
The latest data from aged care technology and advisory firm Mirus Australia shows a continuation of the industry average delivered time trend, with total care time and registered nurse time increasing 0.69 per cent and 0.48 per cent respectively from March to April.
Mirus Australia data scientist Tyler Fisher attributed this ongoing increase to the incoming reforms.
“The reforms are the reason delivered care time is increasing, the nearing deadline should only accelerate the increase to get sector averages to the required 215 minutes,” he told Australian Ageing Agenda.
Minutes are measured as the actual worked minutes – based on time and attendance – and averaged across the number of days in the month and the total number of resident bed days for the month.
Mirus Australia’s May analysis also showed a 0.25 per cent increase in occupancy, which Mr Fisher said was a little unexpected.
“It is surprising to see occupancy and delivered care minutes rising together. Increasing the number of care recipients places a tremendous burden on the roster. So, increasing the average number of care minutes delivered as well as the number of care recipients denotes quite a feat. It is a major justification to Department of Health [Disablity and Ageing] policies and Fair Work decisions,” Mr Fisher told AAA.
Other findings
The May analysis also showed a decrease in the average daily subsidy by 0.04 per cent – or $0.12 – down from the 0.75 per cent increase seen in the April analysis, however Mr Fisher told AAA that the more recent month is always artificially lower due to the nature of reassessment requests – which are typically uplifts being backdated several weeks to their effective date.
“We will see April’s average funding rise through May and June as uplift requests that were made in April are actioned. In general, claims have been flat since October,” he added.
“The increase from February to March reported last month was the result of a price increase. On 1 March the AN-ACC price increased to $282.44, supporting higher wages for registered and enrolled nurses.”
