[The visuals during this webinar are of each speaker presenting in turn via video, with reference to the content of a PowerPoint presentation being played on screen]
Cathy Milfull:
All right. Hi all. Thank you for joining us for this next webinar in our MPS reform series. My name’s Cathy Milfull. Most of you have met me before I think now. I’m Acting Assistant Secretary of Thin Markets Branch at the Department of Health and Aged Care which has responsibility for the MPS Program. So it’s great to be with you again. I’d also like to introduce the fabulous Tanya Clancy and Roger Hunt who are joining me today on the panel and they’ll be helping me after my presentation with the Q&A part of this webinar.
So as usual we’ll go through a formal presentation first but then we’ll have questions and answer session at the end. So please make sure you take the opportunity to ask all those burning questions you always wanted to ask. We’ve got the Q&A function on the side. You should be able to ask a question at any time. You don’t have to wait until the end. And then the panel and I will do our best to get through as many questions and answers as we can. I do note that last time a few people had some issues with the Q&A functionality so hopefully that resolves. But if you have any issues let us know and I think my team have got a back up this time if we really need it. So hopefully I think that’s really it for the general housekeeping for today.
So we’ll bring up the presentation slides in a second and get started. But before we do I just wanted to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which we are meeting today all across Australia, the lands where we live, learn and work. I would like to pay my respects to Elders past and present and recognise their resilience and strength and their rich contribution to Australian society. I’d also like to extend special respect to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here with us today.
All right. So let’s get started. We’ll just get the slides up for you.
[Visual of slide with text saying ‘Multi-Purpose Service (MPS) Webinar 4:’, ‘Aged care reforms:’, ‘Impacts on the MPS program & providers’, ‘28 November 2024’, ‘Thin Markets Branch’, ‘Australian Government with Crest (logo)’, ‘Department of Health and Aged Care’, ‘www.health.gov.au’]
So the first slide that will come up in a second just outlines what we’re going to intend to cover today. As you can see I’ll be the presenter for the entire webinar this time. So sorry. You’re stuck with me. But we will have other panellists to help with the Q&A session. I do acknowledge that it’s been a big week for aged care with the Aged Care Bill finally being passed through Parliament. So I’m going to really provide you with some update about that first today. We will then update you on the related rules that are coming under the new Act as well as transitional arrangements for the new Act. I’ll then just give you an update on other MPS reforms and activities including the reform schedule, the recent allocations round for MPS and the second ACCAP round, and we’ll give you a bit of an update on the 24/7 registered nursing trial as well.
All right. So let’s kick on. The next slide, slide three, just outlines the future webinar topics. Sorry. I’ll just ask my team. I think we’re having a bit of trouble with the slides. Are we able to put it on slideshow? Sorry everyone. There’s always a technical issue. I’ll just keep talking while they get sorted. But just so you know effectively we’re going to take a bit of a webinar break in December but then we’ll pick up again in January 2025. The slide that will come up in a moment will just show you suggested topics for January to April and you’ll just see we’ve got a few new topics particularly relating to new MPS Funding Agreements to accompany the new Act. And this has actually pushed a few of the topics we had planned back a little. So that’s why that’s happened. I just wanted to flag also that we might need to adjust the timetable that we’ve displayed here to reflect consultation on the rules for the new Act.
But as always if you’ve got any other suggestions for subsequent webinars or if you think something is really needed to be discussed by the group more urgently please feel free to let my team know. Suggestions are really welcome.
All right. So we’ll move onto the next part of the webinar which is actually about the new Aged Care Act.
[Visual of slide with text saying ‘Update on the new Aged Care Act and related Rules’, ‘Cathy Milfull, Thin Markets Branch’]
So if we move onto slide five. The exciting news is that I can confirm officially that the Aged Care Bill has finally passed the Parliament. So this means that the Aged Care Act which addresses more than 60 outstanding recommendations of the Royal Commission will commence on 1 July 2025 unless another date is proclaimed earlier. I realise that some of you might have some mixed feelings about this as it does mean there’s a lot of change ahead for all of us. But I think it is important to take a step back and just consider what an important milestone this is for aged care in Australia. It really is the start of a new rights-based system that places older people at the centre and is designed really to achieve higher quality care for Australians.
I think it’s also important to note the Act does deliver for rural and remote Australia in the sense that it does allow block funding arrangements like we have for MPS to continue. It also allows us to support ongoing thin market initiatives aimed at improving access to services for older people living in regional, rural and remote Australia.
Also just to mention I do think it’s important that the Statement of Principles which is at the front of the new Act really recognises that older people should be able to access quality and culturally safe care wherever they live. It also notes the importance of the aged care system building provider capacity and community connections that can support service continuity and access to integrated services like MPS which we know are just so critical in rural and remote Australia.
Just to note too that there’s now a list of draft Rules and when they will be released on our website. To date you would have seen that the service list and the Support at Home Subsidy Provision Rules have been released. The next to come – there’s another tranche to come in early January 2025 and that will include MPS Subsidy Fees and Payment Rules. So really encourage everyone to keep an eye out for that. And we will certainly discuss that at our first webinar next year in January.
So moving onto slide six. You can see that I’ve just given you a link here which you’ll be able to access when we distribute the slides. But for anyone that’s interested there were some amendments made to the Bill while it was passing through Parliament. So the Senate made several amendments and you can actually see those on the APH website if you need to. So it’s the Australian Parliament House website. I’m not going to go through all of those today but I did just want to flag a couple for you in case you want to go and have a look yourselves. So one is that there are a number of amendments to definitions. This includes changes to the definition of responsible person which I’ve flagged with the MPS Working Group previously. So what we’ve done is amend the definition just to ensure that it caters for Government entities and supports a risk appropriate approach to regulation.
And thanks team. I think we’ve got it. Great. So sorry everybody if you were getting seasick but I think we’ve sorted it now. So as I mentioned the definition of responsible person has been changed a little and that’s because we wanted to make sure that it reflected the situation for Government entities. So if we hadn’t changed it what it might have meant is those of you who work for larger state health organisations potentially would have had to list large – I guess many names from your organisation on your registration application. But we’ve fixed that so it won’t be the case and it will be a more risk proportionate approach to regulating your entities.
On the slide here I’ve also just included some information on exemptions, some changes that were made to the definition of high quality care to prioritise nursing services. And just noting that there’s an additional right that’s been added, so a change to the Statement of Rights as well.
The next slide just shows you some of the other areas of change. Look again I’m not going to go into the detail but there were some changes to reporting requirements and arrangements for supporters. There’s also a new note that’s been added to the Bill just to clarify that a person can make a complaint to the Complaints Commissioner about a registered provider acting in a way that is incompatible with the Statement of Rights. So I just thought that was an important reminder for everybody.
[Visual of slide with text saying ‘Update on transitional arrangements’, ‘Cathy Milfull, Thin Markets Branch’]
So that’s the main Bill. Moving on now to talk about the transitional arrangements. So here it’s important to remember that other legislation is also required to transition the sector from the current to the future aged care system. We’ve also had some progress in this space with the Consequential and Transitional Amendments Bill now also introduced to Parliament and it’s in fact already passed the House of Representatives. This Bill is really important as if passed the Bill and the Rules that will sit under it actually show how we can preserve the position of existing providers and clients under the new Aged Care Act. We can also develop rules to cover other matters such as maintaining places allocated to an MPS site.
But the transitional legislation is one thing. There are also a lot of administrative processes that need to be put in place to ensure transition occurs without any problems. And that’s really what I’m keen to talk to you about today in more detail. So this slide, transitional arrangements for providers, firstly looks at transitional arrangements for you guys, ie for our MPS providers. As we’ve discussed previously existing approved MPS providers are intended to be deemed to be registered providers when the new Act commences. They will also need to be deemed to be registered in particular categories. So that’s the residential care category plus additional categories associated with different home care services.
You might remember that we had intended our regulatory strategy colleagues to write out to you to work out what categories each of the providers would like to be deemed to be registered in. But following a discussion with the MPS Working Group earlier this week I just wanted to flag here that a revised approach is now proposed which we look like we’re going to proceed with subject to some final conversations. So this will actually mean we kind of go the other way and that we’ll deem all providers to be registered in all categories. What’s going to happen then is in April next year we’ll be in contact with you and there will be a preview period. So the idea is that providers can actually log on to Departmental systems, have a look and see what it’s going to look like, see their details, and check their registration information.
We’re thinking that this will offer you an opportunity to then opt out of any registration categories. We think it’s better we leave this decision ‘til then. It will give you guys some more time to think about it. You’ll also have a chance to review any additional rules that are published in the new year as well.
So look we’ll be in touch about this. Probably the other outstanding issue that impacts this is you might be aware that there’s some discussions underway with jurisdictions regarding at what level a Government entity will register in the new world. And so by that I mean is it going to be the state of Queensland for example or would each provider be representing more like a regional area, like a local health district. Certainly the latter would be our personal preference from an MPS policy perspective but we’re really keen to work with jurisdictions to understand what works best for them noting this decision is relevant not just to MPS but also to our other programs like transition care and even mainstream residential care.
So look I’ll leave provider transitionals there for now because I really want to talk to you about individuals today. But please feel free to lodge a question if you want me to expand on anything else in relation to providers.
So as per this slide we’ll now move on to talk about discussing transitional arrangements for individuals. So by that I mean the actual older people who are accessing services via your MPS. Look we talked about this last time and I have to admit we still don’t have absolutely everything worked out with transitional rules still to be drafted. But we do have some more information and we wanted to share that with you and get your feedback so we can all be as ready as possible for the work ahead.
So I just wanted to flag as outlined on this slide you’ll hear me talk about today probably using the term deemed approvals but essentially what I’m talking about is if we have a person, so for example fictional Francis who lives at delegate MPS, the aims of these arrangements are to ensure that Francis can continue to access residential care services on 1 July 2025 when the new Act starts and that she has all the approvals that are needed under legislation to allow her to do that. As you’ll see from this slide we’ve also decided now to go a bit wider so we cover individuals who you might not have commenced delivering services to but you have entered an agreement to do that very shortly. And we’re going to try and cover people that would commence accessing services at the MPS within three months. So we’ll explain a bit more as that goes but that means that you won’t have someone who you’ve actually signed an agreement with, the new Act starts and then you kind of have to retrospectively get them to go through a new application process.
All right. So next slide. What do we need from you all as MPS providers? So as we flagged last time we will need your help to ensure that my fictional Francis and indeed all our real life MPS clients can transition over to the new arrangements and continue to access residential care services or home care services or both. As outlined on this slide we’ll need to collect client level information from providers and/or jurisdictions centrally to ensure that this can actually happen in practice.
So what do we need from you? This first slide covers the logistics in terms of timeframes and when we will need the client information for your existing clients. Essentially we are proposing to send you a template where you can upload required information and provide those to us by the end of April. The idea is that we’ll then give you two additional opportunities to update or add to this client list before the transition day so we can make sure everyone in your MPS or who you’re delivering services to in the community as at 30 June 2025 is effectively covered.
All right. So the next slide. How much information about existing clients will we need? Well the next slides really go into more detail about what type and level of client data is required. As I just mentioned my team will be coming out to you with a formal request and templates but we want to provide you with as much notice as possible now regarding what information will be required. As noted here that’s actually going to depend on what sort of services the individual is accessing. So there could be different requirements if they’re accessing for example residential or home care. It will also depend on whether they’ve had an assessment or not. Existing clients will not be required to get a new formal assessment to transition over to accessing services under the new Act. So that’s probably the important message here. Sorry. Can we just go back one slide? As long as they consent for their data to be provided to the Department so that we can include them with the transitional arrangements and the provider confirms that they meet minimum requirements.
So just on that we will also be coming back with more information regarding outcomes for those who don’t consent or don’t meet minimum requirements but we want to ensure our MPS approach here aligns with that of other program areas.
So next slide. What sort of information will we need? This slide again just shows you what information we will need and it will be different depending on whether the person is a resident in your MPS or accessing home care. This slide shows you that the least information for example will be required for individuals accessing residential care who had an ACAT assessment already done. On the other hand the most information will be for people accessing home care who have never been assessed by the Department. And there will be a bit of a range in between which we’ll explain in a second.
So the next slide just shows you to try and make this easier we’ve basically tried to split what we think are the clients out there in MPS land into four cohorts. So in short the first cohort are individuals who are already accessing MPS services with a previous assessment. Then the second cohort is individuals already accessing services who haven’t had a previous assessment with the Department. The third one is individuals with an agreement to commence services within three months of the Act commencing who again had a previous assessment such as an ACAT. And the last cohort is people who have an agreement to commence services with an MPS but don’t have a previous assessment. So basically what we’re imagining here is that the template you get will be split into four and you can work out who fits into those cohorts and different levels of information will be required for each cohort.
I also just wanted to confirm one thing here which you can see down the bottom in red, because I know there’s a lot of sort of uncertainty around age requirements. So just to flag that in terms of the transitional arrangements we’re talking about today there’s no difference depending on whether the person is 65 or 45. Those cohorts and the same rules apply. So the age requirements in the new Act are really only going to impact our younger people who might have sought access to aged care after 1 July. They’re going to be impacted by new eligibility requirements but not existing MPS clients.
All right. So I’m not going to go into this in too much detail or everyone’s brains may explode. But I did just want to show what we’ve done is given you one slide for each of those cohorts and it basically shows you so you can get ready what sort of information we’re going to need for each of those cohorts. So the good news is if you look at the information required all clients column, that is information we will actually require for all the cohorts, so basic client bio data. Then for each cohort you can see a column for residential care and a column for home care. And that’s the additional information that we will need for each cohort. So you can see for cohort one if your client is accessing residential care we really don’t need to know a lot other than their basic bio data plus what services they’re accessing. Is it respite or permanent residential care? And then the date that they actually commenced service delivery with your MPS. So that’s cohort one.
If we now look at cohort two you can see that we will require some additional certifications for clients in this cohort. For example if you look at the residential care column you can see that we will need a bit more information because this person’s never had an ACAT assessment. So basically what we want is providers to indicate something – basically it’s pretty low level. It’s just that in your view the person has some kind of sickness and that can include frailty. That means you believe they need residential care including nursing on an ongoing basis. And we’re keen for you to just indicate on what basis you’ve made that certification. So did they have a GP referral? Have you got information on the client file? That kind of thing. We don’t need to know the details. We just want to know what is it that you’re basing your certification on. So that’s cohort two.
For cohort three again this one is really similar to cohort one in terms of what information we need. The only difference here is that the person hasn’t actually commenced accessing services when the new Act commences on 1 July. So we would just want some extra information from you on the agreement that you have in place to commence services within that first three months and what is the date of commencement of services.
Next up is cohort four. So this really mirrors cohort two. Very similar. The person hasn’t had an IAT or an ACAT assessment. But again this time they just haven’t commenced services yet but they have an agreement with you to do so. Okay.
So they’re the four cohorts. So moving on. What happens from transition day? So getting back to practicalities if we get all that sorted the idea is our MPS clients can continue to access services. They will then be deemed to be approved to access services. They’ll also get at the same time all other delegate decisions that they’re required to have under the new Act. So you don’t have to worry about that too much. But for example they’ll have an eligibility determination, a priority category and a classification level. But for MPS purposes those things aren’t very relevant but from the client’s perspective they’re important in terms of aged care more broadly.
I did just want to flag that as in the current world if the person moves from an MPS service to a mainstream provider or requires new and additional services they are likely to need to undergo further assessments under the new Act. For example if they move from an MPS home to a mainstream home they will need a new AN-ACC classification assessment. But that’s actually no different to the current world anyway. If they move from home care to residential care they will also need a new aged care assessment. And I just wanted to flag that that’s the one possible cohort where existing under 65s might be impacted because there might be some additional requirements if they want to move into residential care after 1 July. And that’s because we’ve talked before about the Government’s targets to actually reduce the numbers of younger people in residential care given that the Royal Commission basically found that it’s not an appropriate environment for younger people and that where possible we want to find them services that are more appropriate to their needs.
So what do we still need to confirm? Just flagging here there are still some things we need to work out. We’re having a little look at what happens with someone who had a RAS instead of an ACAT or IAT assessment. So we’ll come back to you on that. The main thing apart from that we want to work out is really the logistics around client data being submitted, stored and managed and of course making sure that we’re all meeting all our relevant privacy requirements under legislation. So we need to have a think about how to manage clients who don’t consent to give their information to the Department and we want to make sure there’s clear information available on how the Department will use and manage this data. Because really we’re collecting it for a very specific purpose, to allow older people to transition without going to get a new assessment. So we’re hoping people will see that as a positive but we appreciate we’re going to need to explain that and make it really clear what happens with their data.
So I think that’s probably it with that one. Last slide on transitions is just to say that really as I said please don’t worry too much if you found that quite complicated. Ask questions if you have them. But we will certainly write out to you in January. We’ll probably touch base with your MPS Working Group representatives first and then we’ll write out to you with clear instructions and the template. But this session is really just to give you time to get ready and consider how you might manage collecting this information, how you can make sure no clients are overlooked, how you might talk to them about releasing their information to the Department, noting we will try and give you information to help you with that. And just a last reminder. We talked about it before but if you’ve got new residential care clients coming in between now and the new Act it might be worth getting them an IAT assessment. That just means they’ll fit then into that cohort one that we were talking about and so less information for you all to worry about collecting.
[Visual of slide with text saying ‘Update on other MPS reforms and activities’, ‘Cathy Milfull, Thin Markets Branch’]
All right. So that’s transitional. Sorry. I am taking a little bit longer than normal with the presentation but it is quite a complex area. So this next slide just really returns to giving you more of a general update around our MPS reforms. So we’ve updated our usual schedule just to reflect some recent developments. So the first is if you look in that yellow box for January that effectively – and sorry. That should actually say January 2025 – that basically we will have an increase to subsidy rates for 1 January but that’s actually only for our three private MPS providers. And that’s to reflect the most recent Fair Work Commission aged care decision. So there will be a 3.24% increase for 1 January. But that doesn’t affect our State Government providers.
The other thing that’s going to happen hopefully in January, at least it’s imminent but possibly early 2025, is we really want to finish the MPS allocation rounds and notify relevant applicants of the outcome. So just a bit of apologies from me. This has taken a little bit longer than we had anticipated. But that’s because we actually got more applications than expected and those applications were asking for approximately 150 new MPS places. You might remember that the Minister actually allocated only 100. Sorry. Made available 100. So that’s why. But I’m actually really positive about it. I’m really glad that we’ve got that response and I think it shows that people are keen to work with us to expand the MPS program which is great. So hopefully we’ll have more to tell you about that very shortly.
The other thing that’s been keeping my branch a little bit busy too is the second round of the Aged Care Capital Assistance Program. So some of you might be interested to know that that round is very close to being finalised as well. In fact they’re ahead of the MPS one. So keep an eye out for announcements on that one and hopefully we’ll get some good outcomes for providers in terms of capital funding supports.
The other thing that I’ve changed on this diagram but I won’t talk about now because I’m about to talk about it in more detail is just our milestones in terms of the 24/7 registered nursing trial. So as you might remember we’ve been doing a trial of the 24/7 registered nursing obligation for MPS. We’ve been doing that via a phased approach and I’m pleased to say we’re kind of at the end now of Phase 1. As you can see from this slide we had 60 sites participating and it’s great to see that almost all sites provided us with the required reports and also survey responses. So I did really want to make a shoutout to those providers to say thank you so much for participating, particularly also to the sites that were kind enough to host my team who did site visits between August and October. I really do think that the collaboration on this has been fantastic and I think it will make for a better outcome for the trial. So you can see here as well that the good news is that almost all the sites also confirmed that they met the 24/7 registered nursing requirement for those trial reporting periods.
The next slide just gives you a graph which shows those results. So basically we had 86% compliance if you like recorded which is I think pretty fantastic for only Phase 1 of the trial. The other thing if you look at the next slide you can see is I actually think the results are probably better than we’ve actually recorded in that what we discovered were some sites potentially recorded themselves as not complying with the obligation but we think actually they may have taken a slightly I guess stricter if you like view of what we meant by on duty and on site. So the team are working to revise the advice in that space and so we actually think the compliance levels if you like for the next reporting period might actually be higher.
But the one thing we know we do need to address in Phase 2 is basically how to manage – the team did visit a number of sites that have a low acuity lodge or hostel that are not necessarily collocated with the main MPS site where there is a registered nurse available. So we just need to have a think about how that’s going to work in the new world, how do we want to present that off site location if you like under the new Act, and is that area able to meet the 24/7 requirement or is that a situation where we need to look at some kind of exemption, and in which case are the exemptions that are available to mainstream residential care facilities sufficient or do we actually need to come up with something more specific for MPS. So that’s what we’re hoping to look at via Phase 2 of the trial.
So last slide here just shows you I guess the next steps. And just to clarify some of you should be aware that basically all the MPS trial sites or representatives of are on this reform implementation sub-working group that we set up and really each phase of the trial we are discussing the outcomes with that sub-working group before we go back to our higher level MPS Working Group to decide the way forward. So again thanks everyone to participate in that group. And basically it was really pleasing to see that that group recommended that basically we could proceed to the next stage. So what we’re going to do is from 1 February 2025 we will proceed into Phase 2 but that will follow our first webinar next year in late January and we’ll also make sure we update our communication materials to make sure we’re even clearer about things like on site and on duty. That means then all sites will need to participate in the next phase and so there will be a reporting month in March and May when MPS sites will basically report back to us on whether or not they’ve complied. We’ll then come back to the sub-working group with those results and then we’ll see where we land in terms of actually rolling out the formal obligation to have a nurse 24/7 under legislation.
So just as you can see at the bottom there and on the next slide we’ve just adjusted the timeline for the trial as a result. So we’re now proposing that the formal obligation would not start any earlier than 1 October and only if we get agreement. So I just wanted to flag the reason why we’ve done that is just to give everyone a bit more time and breathing space but also obviously the new Act commences on 1 July 2025 at this stage so we just thought it would be good not to necessarily align those and give providers a bit more time to settle into the new Act first and the new rights-based system. And then if all goes well we can roll out 24/7 more formally in October. But we note that you’ll still be participating anyway in the trial so hopefully we’re getting those good quality assurance outcomes anyway.
All right. So I have taken a little bit longer than normal but we are at the question part of the show. So I’m not sure. I think team – I’m not sure if we’ve been having some issues with the questions again. But one question I can see is:
Q: Do we know what the new actions will be for MPS under the new Quality Standards?
So I think it’s from Peter. So Peter in short I guess the new and robust Quality Standards will apply from 1 July and they will apply equally to all providers who are registered in categories four, five and six. So there’s sort of no exceptions for MPS to that particular obligation. So I guess I’d encourage you to have a look at the revised Quality Standards. They’re already on the website. They will then officially – probably you’ll see them in the form of actual rules in the new year. But to answer your question they will apply. And if that’s something people are particularly – if you haven’t been that involved in that consultation process around the Quality Standards I’m happy to get one of the relevant policy teams along in January to kind of sing out the key differences if that would be useful.
All right. Next question I have is:
Q: Can I confirm that as client data will be sought will the transfer of information occur by a secure electronic file arrangement to comply with the legislation?
So look I might start but Roger feel free to jump in as well. But I think essentially yes, the team’s plan is to organise some secure electronic file arrangements. And as I mentioned we’re just working through all those privacy requirements. So we can come back to you all and make sure that we’ve met all our obligations and both yourselves and clients can feel comfortable in that. I don’t know Roger. Are you wanting to add anything there? Sorry. I can’t see.
Roger Hunt:
Thanks Cathy. No. Look I think you’ve covered it off. That’s right. So look we’re definitely wanting to be able to provide some further advice as soon as we’ve got it to hand but absolutely the intent is to ensure all the transfer and storage complies with all the relevant legislation. Absolutely.
Cathy Milfull:
Fantastic. And so really Roger will no doubt be contacting everyone early in the new year with those templates that we mentioned but it will also explain how they’d be submitted and how the data will be stored.
We had another question around transition I think.
Q: So if a client transfers from one MPS site to another MPS site but will receive the same services will they need a reassessment?
So Roger can correct me if I’m wrong but my understanding is no. So effectively with our transitional arrangements basically they’ll get an approval to access the relevant services. They can effectively take that to any site. As I mentioned there’s just potentially some complexity if they move into the mainstream and that’s really because as some of you would be aware currently in HCP but coming in Support at Home they have classification levels that we don’t have in MPS. So they’ll actually need to know what that level is before a mainstream provider starts delivering services. But not a problem from an MPS to MPS perspective to my knowledge.
All right. Tanya I might throw you a question because everyone’s sick of my voice.
Q: Will 24/7 RN reporting look the same or different in the new world after the Act?
I must admit I’m not sure if the person here is asking about mainstream or ours but did you want to respond to that one?
Tanya Clancy:
Yeah sure. So the 24/7 RN reporting requirement will not change when the new Act comes into play so therefore the reporting for MPS also will not change. So the new Act won’t have any impact on the reports for 24/7.
Cathy Milfull:
Thanks Tanya. And the other question was:
Q: Is there a minimum bed requirement for a site to be exempt from reporting for 24/7 RN?
And I’m going to take that as meaning are we proposing that in the MPS context Tanya.
Tanya Clancy:
Yeah sure. So in mainstream sites can apply for an exemption if they’re in MMM 5-7 and have 30 or less beds. But that is something that we’re going to explore in Phase 2 of the trial to see what’s appropriate for MPS. So at this stage we haven’t landed on that one yet.
Cathy Milfull:
Thanks Tanya. Next question I think from Brett.
Q: Is there likely to be interim funding arrangements to ensure sites are viable with changes while the actual MPS funding model is developed?
So I think it’s a good question from Brett. I think look Brett, in a sense there’s no specific funding committed, additional increase to funding for 1 July to MPS to cater for the implementation of the new Act. Of course all our subsidy rates often change on 1 July with indexation so that will happen. But then we will obviously be looking at the new funding model. If you go back and have a look at that reform schedule I showed you though we do have a couple of points where we will consider interim additional funding uplifts. I obviously can’t guarantee that. That’s a matter for Government. But we will be along this journey looking at whether we think that is necessary. And some of you might be aware that my team are actually starting a bit of a deep dive with certain sites once we get agreement from jurisdictions and that’s a way that we’re really hoping to look at and investigate how MPS sites are fairing at the moment and to what extent there is any gap between the costs of service delivery and what you’re being funded now.
We also as you know have already allocated additional funding for participating sites in our direct care minutes trial. So that’s additional funding that’s been added in. But nothing especially for new Act implementation.
All right. Have I got any other questions? I think a question from Megan.
Q: Currently an IAT is not required for MPSs and may be required when the Act commences in July. You had mentioned for services to seek an IAT now for new clients. Can you please clarify?
Thanks Megan. That’s a great question. So basically when the new Act commences all our clients need to effectively go through the front door and do an IAT assessment. Although we will have alternative entry arrangements in place where you need to bring a person in urgently and there’s a delay in the assessment. So that’s not mandatory yet if you like. That only starts with the commencement of the new Act. But I guess we’d had some conversations with the Working Group. There’s nothing stopping you getting IAT assessments already now for your clients just like you did with ACAT. And so really at your discretion but as I said it might help with the transition to the new Act if you start doing that. But what we’re basically saying is please don’t feel like you have to go back and do that for existing clients because the arrangements we’ve discussed today for transitionals that Roger will be developing really removes the need for retrospective assessments if you like.
All right. Have I got any other questions that I have missed team?
I don’t think so.
Tanya Clancy:
It looks like we’ve answered them.
Cathy Milfull:
I think we’re good.
All right. Well look thanks everyone. And thanks for the really good questions. If you think of other things please don’t hesitate to drop us a line. Either my team can give you an answer or we can cover it too at the next webinar. I really do appreciate that there is a lot going on. It’s been a long year and a lot to get ready for next year. So look we really are keen to work with you to support you. And look we don’t have all the answers. We don’t necessarily know what’s going on at particular MPS sites. So if there is a particular challenge with the new Act or a particular new rule please sing out. The rules are out for consultation and it really is important that jurisdictions look at them carefully and let us know if we think there’s something that we haven’t identified that might have an unintended consequence for MPS providers or for your clients.
But if nothing else I will leave it there. And thank you very much everyone for attending and sorry about the technical problems. But it wouldn’t be a webinar without a few little hitches. So we really do appreciate your attendance and participation. Thanks everyone. Bye.
[End of Transcript]