Better health and ageing for all Australians

Aged Care Funding Instrument

ACFI Monitoring Group Meeting 2 Outcomes

The second meeting of the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) Monitoring Group was held on Wednesday 26 September 2012 in Canberra. The Monitoring Group had its first opportunity to review data since the 1 July 2012 changes were introduced.

As this data builds, the Monitoring Group will track expenditure against target levels in the Commonwealth Budget forward estimates. The 2012-13 Budget of $9.1 billion is $310 million more than the 2011-12 Budget.

In relation to the changes implemented on 1 July 2012:

  • there continues to be strong growth in ACFI expenditure with the average subsidy per resident increasing from $133.96 per day in June 2012 to $134.83 per day in July 2012 - a 0.65% increase;
  • the average daily subsidy per resident was $2.21 below what would have been if the changes had not been introduced;
  • $2.16 of this reduction in growth came from the 1.6% price reduction, which when taken with indexation that occurred on the same day, meant that all ACFI subsidy rates were unchanged on 1 July 2012;
  • $0.02 of the reduction in growth came from the changes to the Activities of Daily Living domain which had impacted 0.05% of resident days; and
  • $0.03 of the reduction in growth came from the change to the Complex Health Care domain which had impacted 0.12% of resident days.
The Monitoring Group reviewed a range of data in relation to the impact on different service/provider characteristics. The Monitoring Group noted that, given only one month of data was available, it was too early to draw conclusions on the impact of the measures and tracking against Budget. It was also noted that there was a low number of reappraisals in the month of July compared to historical averages.

Members received advice from its newly established sub-group – the ACFI Technical Reference Group – which discussed a number of options to improve the operation of the Aged Care Funding Instrument for potential implementation on 1 February 2013. The Group considered five proposals:
  1. That providers be required to record the outcomes of evidence based assessments used to support completion of checklists for questions 1-4 with the claiming documentation held at the service, and produce these assessments as required for validation purposes;
  2. That the frequency requirement for complex pain management under question 12-4b be changed from “at least four times per week” to “at least four days per week”;
  3. That additional wording be included in the ACFI User Guide, making it clear that to meet requirements under question 12-4b, consistent ongoing treatment must be provided as required by the resident;
  4. That each question within the ACFI User Guide and ACFI answer appraisal pack that refers to physical assistance re-states the wording on page 5 of the ACFI User guide that makes it clear that it is assistance throughout the specified activity;
  5. That the words “assessed need” be added into questions 1-4 of the ACFI User Guide and ACFI Answer Appraisal Pack.
The Monitoring Group developed an impact analysis for each of these five proposals to enable members to consult with their membership before providing feedback to the Department of Health and Ageing by 9 October 2012.

Members also discussed the ACFI validation program and the Department agreed to provide additional statistics on its website in relation to the validation program.

# For the purposes of the Monitoring Group, the average daily subsidy per resident is calculated based on ACFI appraisal data and includes the Conditional Adjustment Payment. It does not take account of Resident Classification Scale saved rates or other non-typical rates.
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