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Living Longer. Living Better.

Living Longer. Living Better – Building a System for the Future

Printable PDF version of Building a System for the Future (PDF 22 KB)

May 2012

Key Points:

The Australian Government is reforming not just the different types of aged care service delivery, but also tackling how the system works together – for consumers and providers, now and into the future.

Through the Living Longer Living Better aged care reform package, the Government will provide $256.4 million over five years to build a system for the future.

The Government is establishing an independent Aged Care Reform Implementation Council to drive implementation, evaluation and further development of the reforms. There will be an independent Chair for the Council and members will be a diverse mix of Australians experienced in and dedicated to improving the aged care sector. Stakeholder engagement and communication will be critical to successfully building an aged care system for the future, and the Government is providing $15.2 million over five years to ensure this occurs.

The Government is providing $26.4 million over five years to establish a new Aged Care Financing Authority to provide transparent advice on pricing and funding in aged care. Once established, the Authority will consist of a committee of independent experts and representatives from industry, consumer groups and government. The Authority will focus on sustainability of the aged care industry, equity of access, and value for money for aged care recipients.

Information about aged care services is not readily available or reliable, and assessment processes are often repetitive and inconsistent. The Government is providing $198.2 million over five years to progressively establish a gateway to aged care services to address these problems. The first steps will be establishing a new My Aged Care website and national call centre to be the main entry point for the aged care system. This will be followed by reforms to assessment arrangements and establishing a new linking service to help the most vulnerable older people to access services.

To help consumers, their families and carers to make informed decisions about the type of aged care services they receive and who they receive them from, new quality indicators and a rating system will be developed. The results will be published on the My Aged Care website. In addition, a new Australian Aged Care Quality Agency will be responsible for monitoring the quality of both residential care and home care services. Combined with further enhancements to the Aged Care Complaints Scheme, these changes, costing $16.6 million over five years, will help consumers confidently choose the services that are right for them.

Implementation arrangements:

Members of the Aged Care Reform Implementation Council will be appointed from 1 July 2012.

A policy and modelling unit to support the Aged Care Financing Authority will be established on 1 July 2012, the committee will be in place by 1 March 2013, and will provide its initial advice to the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing by 1 July 2014.

The My Aged Care website and a national call centre will be launched in 2013 to make it easier for consumers, their families and carers to obtain information and make informed decisions about aged care services. A streamlined system for assessing the needs of consumers and a new linking service will be introduced from 2014.

The Australian Aged Care Quality Agency will be established from 1 July 2014. Ratings for residential aged care and Home Care Packages will be published from 1 July 2014 and 1 July 2016 respectively.

A system for the future

The Government is delivering on its commitment to make aged care reform a second term priority, with a reform package that provides $3.7 billion over the next five years. The aged care reforms are complex and far-reaching. Implementation will be closely monitored, and where necessary adjusted, to ensure the reforms build a system that will meet the needs of future generations.

Reforming aged care is about more than just providing more and better services. The system needs to fit together; it needs to be easier to navigate; consumers need to have greater control and confidence in the quality of the services they access; and there needs to be transparency in pricing and funding. The Government’s reform package also delivers also against these goals.

Further Information
For more information please visit: www.agedcareaustralia.gov.au