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Aged Care Funding Instrument

Review of the Aged Care Funding Instrument

The Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) represents a significant change in way the Australian Government allocates around $5 billion in subsidies each year for the care of older Australians in government-subsidised aged care facilities. The ACFI was introduced on 20 March 2008.

Report of the ACFI Review

The Department of Health and Ageing has undertaken a review of the ACFI in consultation with consumers, aged care providers, aged care workers and health professionals, and their representatives through the ACFI Industry Reference Group and the ACFI Technical Reference Group. The review was also informed by the analysis of relevant data and reports and by 98 submissions from stakeholders.

Following an overview of the current arrangements and a statistical overview of trends in resident care needs based over the first 34 months, the report is organised around the five themes that formed the basis of consultations:

• matching funding to care needs;
• funding outcomes for providers;
• documentation and administrative arrangements;
• design issues, including the roles of health professionals; and
• alignment with other elements of the health and aged care system.

HTML viewable version of: Review of the Aged Care Funding Instrument, May 2011

You may download a PDF printable version of Review of the Aged Care Funding Instrument, May 2011 (PDF 867 KB)

Terms of Reference

On 6 November 2009, the Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot, released the terms of reference for the Government's review of the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI).

You may download this document in PDF format:

PDF printable version of Review of the Aged Care Funding Instrument - Terms of Reference (PDF 98 KB)

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ACFI Review Discussion Paper

A discussion paper was developed to inform submissions to the ACFI Review.

The paper gives an overview of the issues that have been identified for analysis and key questions to be addressed as part of the Review, grouped into the following broad categories:

• Matching funding to care needs;
• Funding outcomes for providers;
• Documentation and administrative arrangements;
• Design issues, including the role of health professionals; and
• Interface with other elements of aged care.

The paper includes details of the aged care context and background that shaped the development of the ACFI and a description of the instrument.

It also outlines components of the implementation strategy and transitional arrangements that were introduced to support effective implementation of the new tool and arrangements.

The paper also includes a range of data, tables and graphs relating to the operation of the ACFI, including comparisons with the previous funding tool, the Resident Classification Scale.

You may download a printable version of Review of the Aged Care Funding Instrument - Discussion Paper (PDF 834 KB)

HTML version of Review of the Aged Care Funding Instrument - Discussion Paper

More information and national data on ACFI-appraised residents is also available through this website. Copies of ACFI Quarterly Reports can be downloaded from
ACFI Quarterly Reports.

Access Economics analysis of the financial impact of ACFI

Access Economics has conducted an independent analysis of the impact of the new ACFI. Copies of these reports can be downloaded in PDF format.

You may download a printable version of The impact of ACFI on subsidy levels in Residential Aged Care - January 2010. (PDF 1226 KB)

You may download a printable version of Testing the distribution of the first 33,000 ACFI Appraisals - September 2008. (PDF 246 KB)

Submissions to the ACFI Review

A national call for submissions to the ACFI Review was advertised on 5 and 12 December 2009. The closing date for submissions was 12 March 2010.

All public submissions will be available in due course. Reminder: unless otherwise indicated in the submission, all submissions will be published on the Department of Health and Ageing website. If you wish any information contained in your submission to be treated as confidential, please contact the ACFI Review Team or call (02) 6289 1613

A copy of public submissions can be viewed at ACFI Review Submissions.

For more information, email acfi.review@health.gov.au or call the ACFI Review Team on (02) 6289 1613.
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