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Aged Care Funding Instrument

Development of the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI)

Information about the background, reviews and the ACFI trial.

The ACFI has been developed to provide a better system to allocate basic care subsidy to residential aged care facilities. The ACFI addresses industry concerns with the Resident Classification Scale (RCS), especially in regard to its validation and documentation requirements. It will replace the RCS from 20 March 2008.

Several reviews and projects were undertaken during the development of the ACFI.

• Final Resident Classification Scale (RCS) Review Report (PDF 422 KB)
• Reduced Resident Classification Scale (RCS) Questions Project
• Independent Assessors Project
• Review of Pricing Arrangements in Residential Care (Pricing Review)

In response to the reviews, the Government decided to introduce a new funding arrangement with fewer funding categories and two new supplements for challenging behaviours and complex health care needs.

The ACFI Trial

In 2005, 678 Government funded aged care homes participated in a national trial of the ACFI. ACFI appraisals were conducted on aged care residents and prospective residents by staff from Aged Care Assessment Teams, nominated clinical staff from aged care homes and Department of Health and Ageing RCS Review Officers. In NSW and Victoria, there was a small pilot of community and employment agency nurses also undertaking appraisals. The trial led to further refinement of the ACFI tools. Results included higher levels of agreement between care staff and validators on ACFI ratings as well as significantly less time demands (less than 60 minutes) for ACFI appraisals compared to RCS appraisals. For more information: Outcomes of National Trial

If you are unable to download the PDF file please send an email to: acc@health.gov.au for a copy to be sent to you.
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