Webinar recording
[Opening visual of slide with text saying ‘Australian Government with Crest (logo)’, ‘Department of Health and Aged Care’, ‘New aged care regulatory model: Let’s answer your questions’]
[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]
Jasmine Snow:
Good afternoon and thank you all for attending today’s webinar. My name is Jas Snow and I’m the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Support at Home Reform Branch within the Department of Health and Aged Care. Today I am joined by Rob Day, Assistant Secretary of the Harmonisation and Regulatory Strategy Branch.
I’ll begin by acknowledging the traditional owners and custodians of various lands on which we are virtually meeting today. I am based in Canberra on the lands of the Ngunnawal people. I wish to acknowledge and pay my respects to Elders both past and present and acknowledge their continuing culture and the contribution that they make to the life of the city and this region. I would like to extend this acknowledgment and respect to other families with connection to this region and any other Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people that are here with us today.
So what’s today about? As many attendees may be aware in November last year we held a webinar providing an overview of the new Regulatory Model including the benefits and features of the new model and how it will work in practice. This included an overview of the engagement activities that were underway to prepare providers for the new model. We looked at the new regulatory process and how we are preparing providers as well as the functions and powers of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission under the new model.
There was a large volume of questions at the end of the webinar and unfortunately we were only able to answer a few of these at the time. This webinar today is an opportunity for follow up questions to understand how the new Regulatory Model will work in practice across affected programs.
As many attendees may be aware you can submit questions in the Slido on the right hand side of your screen and we will respond to as many questions as possible during our time together today. If we are unable to answer a question during the session because we’ve run out of time we will follow up – or we are unable to answer the question because it’s not our subject area of expertise – we’ll follow up with the relevant area in the Department and respond through the FAQ document that follows this webinar like we tend to do with these types of events.
In terms of housekeeping I’d like to flag that there’s no option for attendees to turn on their video or microphone which people may be aware, and the slides for this webinar are now available on our website. I’d also like to remind attendees that this session is being recorded and will be published on our website in the coming days. So please keep an eye out for that if you would like to review the session.
I’ll now hand to Rob for a brief recap of the November webinar before we move into questions today. Thanks Rob.
Robert Day:
Thanks very much Jas. Hi everyone. Great to have this chance today to get into some of the Q&A that we missed in November around the new Regulatory Model. And in that spirit I will keep this update really brief, partly to contextualise the conversation that we’re about to have and partly to give you a little bit of time to get those questions coming in through the Slido.
So the context for this conversation is the new Regulatory Model which is part of the Aged Care Act that comes into effect on the 1st of July 2025. The new model goes back to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and the findings that we needed an approach to aged care regulation that both did a better job of protecting older people from harm but also that was more deliberately designed to incentivise continuous improvement and excellence. And we’ve been motivated in designing the new Regulatory Model by the relational approach to regulation and seeking to build stronger relationships, greater transparency, greater engagement between all the different parts of the aged care system, people accessing services, providers, the regulator in the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission and the Department.
Some of the big changes are things like universal provider registration, so a single registration across all the forms of aged care that a provider delivers rather than having separate ways of engaging for home care and residential aged care and the Home Support Program for example. Also a time limited registration, so there is an active renewal process and an active reconsideration of the providers that are operating in the system, as well as some other changes like opening the system up to sole traders and partnerships that can’t currently operate in the aged care system. And you can see on this slide some more of the features and benefits of the new Regulatory Model and many of you will have seen that before in our web material or in our previous webinar.
We might flick onto the next slide thank you. So under the new Act I mentioned there’s the idea of a universal provider registration and one of the important features of the new Regulatory Model to balance that universal registration with a proportionate approach to regulation and a risk‑based approach to regulation is these six categories. And that’s a way of grouping together services that have got a similar level of risk from a regulatory perspective so that we can then shape both the process of becoming a provider, the process of renewing your registration as a provider and the obligations of providers to those specific service types. And so as you see the draft rules that come out for consultation over the next couple of months you’ll see that many of the obligations that apply to providers are based on the registration categories that those providers operate in. And similarly the way that we do registration and renewal, that will be shaped based on the registration categories that a provider is operating in. There might also be some obligations that we map to other kinds of providers. So providers who are operating in rural and remote areas for example, Aboriginal community controlled organisations, Government providers, might all have slightly different nuances on their obligations. And I guess a really clear example which you can see on the slide there is the Aged Care Quality Standards and you can see that as you move into categories four, five and six on that list the Aged Care Quality Standards begin to apply depending upon the types of services that you offer.
In order to move providers from the current system and into these registration categories we’re going through a process of deeming. And when we spoke back in November we were in the process of a data validation process where we had reached out to all providers to gather a little bit of data. So I wanted to give you an update on where we’re up to in that process. The validation step that we took last year was about testing the IT processes that we’re going to use to make that deeming process of taking providers from their current state to the new state ahead of the 1st of July. And it was a chance both to check that we had the right information about providers to do that deeming process accurately and also to check our IT systems and our algorithms to make sure that they would do the translation from current state to new state in an accurate way.
It's important to note that that wasn’t the formal deeming process. We have had a few organisations reach out to us concerned because they didn’t get that email or it was overlooked. And can give you the confidence that that validation process last year was not the formal deeming process and there will continue to be some opportunities to engage with us around both the information we hold about you and also making sure that that deeming process is going to be as accurate as possible. The most significant we’re working towards happening in April which is a provider registration preview. And that’s where we’ll come out again to all providers with a more detailed set of information that we hold about you and how that’s going to be translated, how that will look when the deeming process happens on the 1st of July next year. And that’s again your chance to check is this right and to have that confidence that you know how your provider status will be set up from the 1st of July.
I think also a really good opportunity as we talk both about that deeming validation process last year and about this upcoming preview window in April, a really good time to make sure that your information is as up to date as possible with the Department particularly contact details which you can now, for those of you that are on GPMS, update in a self-service way. But the more that we can do now to get that information accurate and up to date the smoother and easier that deeming process will be for all of us. I know sometimes there’s frustration about how long it takes for those updates to be processed and we’re working with colleagues in the Commission and across the Department to make sure we’ve got some extra resources in all the relevant teams to work through all of those changes that need to be made before we get into the deeming process.
So that’s it for me in terms of an update. I might hand back over to Jas who’s going to take us through the questions and answers and we’ll do our best to get through as many of them as we can.
Jasmine Snow:
Fabulous. Thanks Rob. So the first one for you today.
Q: What will the new provider registration be limited to? Will an allied health provider need to show eligibility to deliver all services in Category 4 or will their registration be just specific to allied health or even more specific than that? Eg. could it be just for physiotherapy?
Robert Day:
Yeah. Thank you. A really good question. And there will be a couple of different parts that are worth me pulling out to explain how the new registration system will work. When you apply to become a registered provider you will be able to identify that you are only going to offer some of the service types within a registration category. And so to use the terms of the example you will be able to say ‘I’m a physiotherapist and my plan is to offer only physiotherapy services’ and the Commission will process your application for registration in that context. Once you’re registered in that relevant category, so Category 4 in this example, if you wanted to expand your service offer within the registration category you could do that but you’d have to notify the Quality and Safety Commission that that was your intention. And if you wanted to add additional service categories you could also do that but that would actually be an application to vary your registration.
I think probably also worth calling out in terms of the Support at Home Program and its design that when the program starts on the 1st of July this year there will still be a requirement for a single provider for Support at Home. And for those of you who are operating in for example the physiotherapy space need to be alert to that nuance while Government continues to work through what a model provider might look like from no earlier than 2027.
Jasmine Snow:
Fantastic. Thanks Rob. Our next question is asking:
Q: When will the provider obligations for each reg category be published?
Robert Day:
Sorry. Can you just repeat that? When will the?
Jasmine Snow:
Q: When will the provider obligations for each registration category be published?
Robert Day:
Yeah. Excellent. Really, really good question. That information will be coming out. Most of it is in tranche three of the rules and they are slated for consultation in early February. And I know there is a lot of work happening right now to get those rules out for consultation. So very soon. As those become available my team and I will also be working on some tools that summarise what those obligations look like. So you’ll be able to see the detail in the draft rules but also we’ll work on some summary tools to make that information more accessible for you.
Jasmine Snow:
Fantastic. Thanks Rob. Our next one.
Q: From 1 July will annual client reviews no longer need to be completed by CHSP providers delivering services only in Categories 1 to 3?
And this might be one we need to kind of take on notice and go back to our CHSP colleagues and come back to the individual on.
Robert Day:
Yeah. Look I think there are definitely some obligations in the rules around things like having a care plan in place for the people that are receiving services for you but I can’t tell you today whether that’s an annual thing or a more regular thing or a less frequent thing. But definitely the terminology would probably translate from that particular language in CHSP to the language around having a care plan under the new Act.
Jasmine Snow:
Fantastic. We’ll follow that one up and come back through our FAQ document. I’m going to give myself the next one if that’s okay, which is:
Q: When can we expect the Support at Home Program Manual to be published?
So we expect that the first chapters of the Program Manual will be available next month and we know the sector’s really, really keen to see that detail so we’re pushing to get that out as soon as possible.
If I jump to the next one we’re talking again about it looks like a Support at Home type question.
Q: Is there a definition of case management or a list of case management service types which are allowable under the 10% management funding block?
Rob if you’re happy I might just talk about that from a Support at Home perspective and then if there’s anything else you want to add please, please do. So this links back to my previous response around the Program Manual. So we will be providing a lot more detail about what care partners will need to deliver under the care management service under Support at Home. So we’re going to make sure that that calls out both kind of direct and indirect care management type activities. So that information will be coming next month as well.
Is there anything further you wanted to add to that Rob, or are you happy if I jump to the next one?
Robert Day:
No. I think that’s probably a great answer. Thanks Jas.
Jasmine Snow:
So next we’re talking about Category 5.
Q: Does Category 5 apply to home care providers who don’t employ nurses but who - - -
Apologies. I lost my question.
Q: Does Category 5 apply to home care providers who don’t employ nurses but purchase nursing services in accordance with client preferences or clinical care needs?
Robert Day:
So I think the short answer to that is yes but let me talk you through the system in a little bit more detail to try and lay that out. In terms of the deeming process that I mentioned because at the moment the Home Care Package Program works on the assumption that a provider can offer the full range of home care services our plan is to deem Home Care Package providers by default into Categories 1 to 5. There will be an opt out available for Home Care Package providers to come back to us and say ‘Actually no, we don’t offer nursing and we don’t want to be registered in Category 5’. So that’s how we’ll work through the deeming process.
In terms of that effectively contracting out the nursing element the new Act makes it really clear that you can absolutely subcontract out some of the services that your provider organisation offers and those organisations that you subcontract out to will be known as associated providers. But as the registered provider you remain responsible for all the care that’s delivered through you and you’ll need to be a registered provider in the relevant category in order to be able to claim funding. So in this example unless you’re registered in Category 5 you won’t be able to claim the subsidies from Government or nursing and we would expect that even if you’re subcontracting out the nursing work that you have got for example the clinical management oversight or systems in place to manage that part of your workforce. So hopefully that’s a helpful answer, talking that one through.
Jasmine Snow:
Thanks Rob. For the next one we’re posing a question about current CHSP providers. So the question is:
Q: For current CHSP providers can they also be a Support at Home provider from 1 July 2025?
Robert Day:
So look I think the short answer is – and again I’ll talk you through it. The short answer is in theory yes but it’s not automatic. There’s some steps that you’ll have to take. So from the 1st of July next year you will if you want to offer Support at Home services be able to offer all the services that a client needs and that must include care management which sits in registration Category 4. So if you’re a provider that’s in CHSP – and I know you’re out there – you already offer all of those service types. You might be deemed into registration Categories 1-4. Because care management isn’t an authorised service type for CHSP itself you might have the skills and capacity to offer it but you’ll have to go through that process of notifying the Commission that you intend to offer care management services going forward and the Commission might just sort of note that in the system or they might come back and ask some questions. It’s not an approval process but you need to let them know that’s what you intend to do.
And then you’ll have to go through the process in terms of your record on My Aged Care that you are set up to receive those referrals for Support at Home clients. You’ll need to set up a service delivery branch so you can have the care management fees paid for you. So there will be some admin work for you to get there. But if you’re deemed across into registration Categories 1-4 it’s reasonably simple and theoretically possible. If you’re a meals only provider obviously there’s a much more substantial number of steps that you’ll need to take to show that you can be a Support at Home provider.
Jasmine Snow:
Great answer. Thanks Rob. The next one is a nice short one.
Q: Where do we go to register?
Robert Day:
Excellent. And so for those of you who are already approved providers or CHSP providers or NATSIFAC providers you don’t need to go anywhere. We will take you through this deeming process automatically. For any organisations or individuals who are interested in becoming a registered provider for the first time that will be an application to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. If you’ve made an application before the 30th of June that will be sort of deemed across into the new Act and become an application to become a registered provider under the new Act. But there will also be a series of new forms that are better targeted to the new Regulatory Model and the new approach to registration that will become available and that application will be how you go about becoming a registered provider for the first time.
Jasmine Snow:
Thank you. For our next question it’s also relating to the CHSP providers. So the question posed is:
Q: When will CHSP providers start to use GPMS so that they can view their reg categories?
Robert Day:
So look my understanding at this point is the access to the GPMS portal probably won’t happen until the 1st of July or the days before that and there’s some complex technical reasons why we’re not able to provide that sooner. But that provider preview window in April that I mentioned is deliberately designed among other things so that we can show you what is the information that we currently hold in the back end of GPMS, make sure that that’s right and give you a little bit of a sense of what your system will look like when you do get that visibility just before the 1st of July.
Jasmine Snow:
Thanks Rob. Got a question here that is picking up CHSP clients and the restorative care pathway. So the question is a couple of parts.
Q: What will happen with CHSP clients who choose the restorative care pathway from 1 July 2025? Will they be able to get access from providers who are registered in Cat 4 or does it need to be an existing short term restorative care provider? Same question for Home Care Package or Support at Home providers.
Robert Day:
So I might have a first crack at that Jas and then happy for you to come in and add some nuance. So my understanding is that the restorative care pathway will be in addition to the CHSP services that someone’s getting or the current Support at Home services they’re getting. So it will be a top up but it will need to be delivered through a Support at Home provider that is registered in the relevant categories. That won’t necessarily need to be someone who’s currently a short term restorative care provider but they will need to have the right service registrations in Support at Home to do that restorative care pathway.
Jasmine Snow:
That’s exactly where I was going to go. So you’re right. So existing CHSP providers can essentially from 1 July go through an assessment process like they would today and receive an approval for the restorative care pathway under Support at Home, so one of the short term pathways under the new program. Or like Rob has already articulated they might not have touched any aged care services to date and be either referred to the restorative care pathway or ongoing services under Support at Home. Or the third cohort that’s worth touching on is maybe it’s a couple of months down the track, they’re an existing Support at Home client, either they were with Home Care Packages before or they’ve recently joined the program, and they could also receive an approval for that top up or additional services through that restorative care pathway for 12 weeks in most instances.
So I think we’ve covered the three parts in that one. We’ve got a question around:
Q: Will claims for the current Home Care Package and new Support at Home care recipients be processed together?
So I think this might be one for me Rob unless you wanted to jump in on that one. I think that’s probably talking about kind of when we move between the current program and the new program. And that’s a space where we’ll be providing more documentation and more advice to the sector over the coming weeks about how Support at Home claiming will work in practice. So we’ll probably ask the person who posted the question just to watch this space and more information will be available shortly on that one.
If we go to the next one, this is also a Support at Home question.
Q: How does the reporting look like for Support at Home? When will this information be available?
So that will also start to kind of flow from next month. I don’t know Rob if there’s anything you wanted to add to that in the broader kind of regulatory space. But it’s probably looking at some of the key Support at Home documents I suspect on that one.
Robert Day:
Yeah. Sorry. Can you just repeat the question for me again?
Jasmine Snow:
So it was:
Q: How does the reporting look like for Support at Home? When will this information be available?
Robert Day:
Yeah. Look I don’t think there’s much I can add to your answer on that Jas. I think in terms of some of the reporting obligations on providers generally – I’m not quite sure that this is where the question’s going but hopefully it’s useful information for someone in the ether. There will be this sort of transitional phase where there’s going to be a set of reports that will need to be provided for the last period under the current Act, so up to the 30th of June, and that will be all about current state reporting. And we’ll be designing systems so that we can capture that first report, even though the new Act is operating against the reporting requirements of the current Act and then we’ll start from the end of quarter one of the new financial year looking at the reporting requirements under the current Act. And again some of those details about what are the reporting requirements for individual types of providers, that will come out in the next two tranches of rules, one that comes out in the start of February and one at the start of March.
Jasmine Snow:
Thanks Rob. Just picking up on your reference to rules there. We’ve had a broader question around legislation. So the question is:
Q: Are there new rules being written for aged care? The new Bill mentions the rules but unsure if there will be new rules.
You might just want to talk about that in the reg model context if that’s okay.
Robert Day:
Yeah. So look rules is I guess new language for the concept of subordinate legislation or regulation. And so in the same way that at the moment we’ve got the Aged Care Act 1997 and then there’s a series of principles, is the language in the current legislative system of delegated legislation. So the Act passed through Parliament says the Minister can make principles relating to this particular topic and the Minister can sign that with the Governor General and Parliament can override it but doesn’t get passed through Parliament in the same way that an Act of Parliament does. Rules is the new language for that subordinate legislation and it’s a way of having a lot of the detail of the way the system operates that doesn’t necessarily need Parliamentary oversight that might be subject to change more quickly, having that information come through. And so when we talk about the rules what we’re talking about is that subordinate legislation that gives the extra level of detail into how the legislation will operate. And so I guess an example of that is the service list which was put out for consultation last year. The new Aged Care Act says there will be a service list. It will be set out in the rules and then the rules go into all the level of detail about what are the different service types that make up My Aged Care. So hopefully that helps explain the language that we’re using and what we talk about when we talk about the rules.
Jasmine Snow:
Thanks Rob. It’s a good reminder for us to make sure we’re not using shorthand. The next question relates to aged care worker screening checks. So the question posed is:
Q: Can you confirm that the new aged care worker screening checks won’t be implemented before 2026?
Robert Day:
Yes. Look that’s absolutely my understanding as well. The reason for that is a single national approach to worker screening needs us to engage with every state and territory Government. We’ve got to pass legislation in all the states and territories, update IT systems in all the states and territories. So it takes a little bit longer. The end experience though I think is really, really promising in the sense of a single national check across both aged care and disability for workers. And what will happen is in the interim period between the 1st of July this year and early 2026 when the new worker screening system comes on board existing arrangements will be maintained. So the police check process that we use at the moment, that will be maintained until the worker screening system comes online. And similarly once that worker screening system is up and running there will be a transitional period where people who’ve been brought into the system on the basis of a police check will continue to be able to work on that police check. We’re not going to expect everyone to have a worker screen done the first day that they’re available.
Jasmine Snow:
Thanks Rob. The next one we’re talking about vendors and home care clients. So the question is:
Q: Do vendors who provide services for our home care clients but charge us are required to be registered?
So that’s looking at kind of associate providers. And then the second part.
Q: Or is it just the main service provider who manages the package for the client who is requiring that registration under the reg model?
Robert Day:
Yep. So I think possibly the easiest way to think about the answer to that question is who’s the entity that’s directly receiving the subsidy from Government. That organisation under the multi‑provider model that we will have from the 1st of July, that organisation that’s getting the subsidy from Government needs to be a registered provider and they’re responsible for all of the services that are delivered to that client even if they’re outsourced.
The organisation or the vendor that you then might outsource some of that service delivery to, they’ll be known as an associated provider under the new Act. And in some instances you’ll be required to notify the Commission that you’re using that particular entity as an associated provider. It is possible but not a requirement that that associated provider might also be a registered provider in their own right. And so I know an example that comes up quite often in the transport space of CHSP is you sometimes have an entity that is both a provider of transport services in their own right but they also then subcontract out transport to a home care provider. So they might be a registered provider in their own right but they’re also then subcontracting for another provider.
Jasmine Snow:
Fantastic. And thanks for covering both scenarios there. Just for people’s awareness we can see there’s quite a few questions coming through in relation to software, developers updating software in line with the new requirements of the Act. Rob and I probably aren’t best placed to talk to those but we’re noting those down and we’ll make sure we come out with information to interested parties through our website and the FAQ questions. But I just wanted to flag if we’re not getting to those questions we are seeing them and noting those ones down.
The next question talks about key personnel. So Rob are you able to touch on the liabilities and obligations of key personnel, including clinical key personnel who may not be at the level of seniority with the assessors and other key personnel?
Robert Day:
Yeah. Thanks. So look I think one of the big changes with the new Act is the idea of a duty and that duty applies to providers and to their key personnel.
And so the duty for a provider entity is as an organisation to the extent that is reasonably practical to avoid doing harm to the people that are accessing your services, and then the responsibilities on key personnel are to have due diligence in making sure that their provider entity meets that obligation. So I know it’s new and I think it will probably focus the minds of some people but I think in terms of the intent of everyone I’ve ever met working in aged care that’s I think a shared commitment that everyone working in every provider organisation would have.
I’m just quickly while I’m talking trying to pull up the relevant bit of the Act for you so I can talk a little bit more authoritatively about this. In terms of the key personnel concept itself there are a couple of different levels to key personnel. There are members of the board of the governing body, there are executives that are responsible for making decisions about the day to day operations and there are those sort of frontline managers say in a nursing home, the nurse manager of a particular facility.
There were some very deliberate amendments to that third part of the definition of key personnel to try and target it to people who do have that substantive control over the way the service operates and not just every single RN who happens to be on duty in that home. I haven’t been able to pull up the relevant section quite quickly enough to talk you through it but I think that’s probably the key point that I want to make, is there is that differentiation between the executive board level and the frontline managers for want of a better word.
Jasmine Snow:
Thanks Rob. We’ve got a query around new registration applications next. So the question is:
Q: When you submit a new registration application as a new provider will this involve an audit from the Commission or an external auditing body before being approved?
So I think a process type question there.
Robert Day:
Yeah. Absolutely. So if you’re applying for the first time to be registered in Categories 4, 5 and 6 that will involve an audit from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission against the Quality Standards that apply for the service types that you’re proposing to offer. Consistent with what the current practice is that will be a staff member of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission that will come and undertake that audit work. And similarly for renewal of registration part of that renewal process if you’re operating in Categories 4, 5 and 6 will be an audit against those relevant standards based on the service types that you’re offering.
There will still be an assessment by the Commission for Categories 1, 2 and 3. It will just be different to an audit against the Standards because the Standards won’t apply. Rather it will be a check by the Commission in terms of the other tests that are set out in the legislation about as an organisation do you understand the services that you need to offer, do your key personnel have the capability and skills to deliver those services. And so the Commission will be asking for evidence against those requirements and making an assessment against those if you’re operating in Categories 1, 2 and 3.
Jasmine Snow:
Thanks Rob. Our next question relates to election timing and potential delays. So the question posed is:
Q: Is there any foreseeable delay to this plan should an election be called in the middle of the rollout timeline?
Robert Day:
That is a really good question and I think one that we are mindful of but also one where we don’t know the Prime Minister’s mind in terms of the timing of the election any better than you do. So I’m trying to think how I can be helpful in this without going into wild speculation.
Jasmine Snow:
Rob if it’s helpful I think there’s discussions internally that are looking through various timelines. We’re obviously looking really closely at the caretaker convention that kind of dictates what we can and can’t do when we’re in that caretaker period. So an election’s been called, election hasn’t occurred yet. Planning I’ve seen to date – I suspect this is similar for your area Rob – suggest that most things can continue. So at this stage we think we can continue with the plan we’ve discussed today and we’re confident we will be able to do that. I don’t know if that helps Rob. That’s just some things that we’ve been discussing.
Robert Day:
Look I think that’s broadly right. I think probably the biggest question in my mind will be around consultation on the rules and whether that can go ahead during caretaker or not. And that might be something ultimately that actually the Minister and the Shadow Minister need to discuss if that’s an issue. But it may be a completely non-issue depending upon the timing of the election.
Jasmine Snow:
True. I can see a really popular one here is around co-contribution amounts which I think is referring to Support at Home. So the query was:
Q: How will the co-contribution amount for each claim be calculated? Who’s responsible for this calculation and how will the information need to be provided?
So we will obviously have a role for Services Australia. They’ll be able to provide some information back to providers about expected participant co-contributions and there will obviously be some requirements on providers’ three monthly statements largely mirroring what we’ve got today. The details of that will also be in the February advice I referenced earlier. So I don’t want to take too much time for Support at Home specific queries but I can see it’s really popular so I did want to address that there. So more information to come but there will be a role for Services Australia in that one.
There’s a comment or a concern. Not sure how we want to take this one Rob.
Q: Is anyone else concerned that we have so many questions still on how the new program will work? When will we be given full details so we can plan?
So that may be referring to Support at Home. We are definitely aware the sector is very, very keen for detail and we’re committed and we’re working to get that out as soon as possible. It also could apply more broadly across the reforms. I don’t know if there’s anything you wanted to add to that one there?
Robert Day:
Yeah. Look I mean I think there’s a degree to which I’m not surprised to be honest. And in a sense the closer that we get to implementation the more questions that there will be. And I actually wouldn’t be surprised even if we had more questions after the 1st of July because as you start to live and experience something that naturally throws up more questions. And I think to be honest even between our November webinar and today yes there’s a whole lot of questions but the scope and precision of the questions sort of indicates there’s a level of knowledge and awareness that’s built up in the intervening period. So don’t in that sense want to try and take away from the call that’s in that comment around there’s more that we need to get out there and communicate. There absolutely is. There are some more details that will particularly come out as that draft subordinate legislation comes out early in February and early in March. So yes there is some more detail to come. But I think with this kind of complex program change we’re going to have more questions to work through together and that’s part of getting to know better and better what’s in front of us.
Jasmine Snow:
Thanks Rob. Next question relates to worker screening checks. So the question is asking:
Q: Will worker screening checks relate to subcontractors, eg. mowing services for example?
Robert Day:
Yep. So I want to say yes and no which is not very helpful. So let me talk you through it again. The Act is quite clear that where you subcontract out your services to another party the workers of that party who are delivering aged care services are also your aged care workers. And so in theory yes, someone that you have engaged through a subcontract, whether that’s a digital platform or a labour hire arrangement or a subcontract with another organisation to deliver part of your service type, will be your workers as the registered provider. And for some of those you will need to have worker screening checks in place.
I think the question around whether mowing specifically would trigger that requirement for a screening check comes down to the definition. As I understand it the risk-based roles that will need the full aged care worker screening check will be key personnel, people that are involved in direct service delivery and people who would be expected to have more than incidental contact with an older person in the context of aged care service delivery. I think someone who’s just coming in to do the occasional lawnmowing might fall outside of that definition but I’d want to see the precise rules that support the worker screening arrangements before I gave you an absolute answer on that.
Jasmine Snow:
Thanks Rob. Next question relates to banning orders register. So there’s a common question here. So it starts with:
Q: The banning orders register is long and poorly set out. Are there plans to look at this? For example it looks like a simple Word document with no Commonwealth branding. There is also no information on how often this is reviewed.
Robert Day:
Look I think happy to take that on board as feedback. I know from the conversations that I’m having regularly with the Quality and Safety Commission they are looking at all of the information that they currently provide on their website including the banning order part and looking at where there are opportunities for that to be further improved. And so look happy to take that on board as feedback. We’ll pass it on but also know that it’s an area of active consideration right now. I also am aware that as we work to the new worker screening system and then beyond that into the concept of a worker registration scheme that we’ll also try and streamline access to information around banning orders across the different care economy systems.
Jasmine Snow:
Thanks Rob. Next query relates to aged care homes.
Q: We have a number of aged care homes in our organisation who have an accreditation expiry in September or October 2025. Will they be required to submit an application for re-accreditation and self-assessment under the current Standards?
Robert Day:
So one of the things that will be set as part of that deeming process to take us from the current Act to the new Act will be a determination from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission around the registration date for your entire provider entity. And we’re hoping to give you a picture of that in that April preview window. I think the difference will be, because under the new Act registration is at the whole of provider level rather than individual aged care homes or service branches, it might be that yes you’ve got a couple of homes that are close to coming up for their next audit but you’re a much larger provider and several of your homes have been accredited more recently and so you get a date a bit further into the future.
But that’s the decision making process, is the Commission will set a date and they will consider in that a range of factors, one of which is how recently your provider entity has been through the audit process in each individual home and what does that look like as an aggregate picture. They’ll have a look at the compliance history of your organisation and obviously the better that is the more confident they’ll be giving you a longer initial registration period. And also then practically for the Commission and its staff having to manage renewal for all current providers over the period of about three years. So those three factors will go into determine what the initial registration date is and we should be able to give you an initial sense of when that will be in the April preview window.
Jasmine Snow:
Fantastic. Thanks Rob. I’ve got a TCP related question up next.
Q: Is there more information available regarding the reg process for TCP providers within Victoria? Are TCP providers expected to be registered by 1 July 2025?
Robert Day:
So the short answer is yes but we’ll do that for you as part of the deeming process. The longer answer is TCP as one of the specialist aged care programs is a little bit different and so the first thing that will be put in place is – and this is not dissimilar to current state, but there will be a funding agreement between the Commonwealth and the state or territory Government and that will talk to the number of TCP places that are available and the way the two Governments share the funding for the program. And then on the advice of the state or territory Government the Commonwealth will allocate the available number of places under TCP to registered providers. Some of those providers might be Government providers. Some of them might be private providers. But we’ll distribute those out to registered providers. If you’re currently an organisation that is delivering TCP then we’ll pick you up in that deeming process and make sure that you’re a registered provider in the relevant categories from the 1st of July.
Jasmine Snow:
Thank you. I’ve got a question around self-management.
Q: Is the associate provider designation still applicable if the client is self-managing care? What is the obligation of the approved provider claiming funding and administering a package in this scenario?
Robert Day:
And look Jas you might want to add to this answer as we go. From the 1st of July 2025 while we’ve still got a single provider model you will still have a registered provider that’s responsible for the quality of care even if you’ve got someone who’s self-managing and choosing their own service delivery. And those other organisations that the individual might be choosing, you’ll effectively be subcontracting to and they will be picked up as your associate providers. And I think what that brings out is - - -
Jasmine Snow:
I’ve lost Rob’s audio so what we might do is I’ll see if I can find a Support at Home question and I can answer that whilst Rob is looking at his tech at that end. So I can see a question here was around:
Q: I understand there’s no need to reassess the existing Home Care Package clients. They will just transition to Support at Home. How do we know what support classification existing clients will transition to if there are defined mapping - - -
And the question’s posed as a Level 1 which is a Home Care Package. A Level 1 goes to a Support at Home Classification 1. Really, really good question. In practice what we will do is set up essentially for grandfathered Home Care Package clients. So attendees on the call might have seen messaging to date around if you are a current Home Care Package client your budget essentially that you have today will carry across post 1 July 2025. The rules of Support at Home in terms of the funding model will apply. So we will operate on a quarterly budget. So we’ll be dividing your annual budget into four. But correct. The premise of the question very, very correct. No reassessment required. We won’t map to the new Support at Home classifications. In that scenario though if it’s me, I am a current Home Care Package Level 3 client I’ll come across – will cut my budget into four and I’ll kind of follow those rules. If my needs increase over time and I go for a reassessment like we do today I will go then at that point onto the new Support at Home classification.
I might just say hi to Rob and see if we’ve got his audio back.
Robert Day:
I think I’m back. I’m not quite sure what happened. I’m so sorry everyone.
Jasmine Snow:
Nice and clear. We’ve got a question here about the Act which I think we’ve got some words on but if not we can obviously come back to people through our FAQ document. So the question is:
Q: When will the final amendments made to the new Aged Care Act [0:50:14]?
Robert Day:
So look I think the way to answer that is we do have an Act of Parliament and so that’s what we’re working on. It’s theoretically possible that the Government might bring further legislation into the Parliament. I know for example there will need to be legislation around the concept of a First Nations Aged Care Commissioner if Government chooses to pursue that option. But that’s in the hands of Parliament. We do have an Act that is – actually it’s not just passed through Parliament. It’s been given Royal Assent by the Governor-General. So that’s what we’re working on. And then we’ve got the subordinate legislation that we’ve talked about, the rules. The commitment from Government is that you will have seen all of those and had a chance to comment on them by the end of March and then the Minister of the day will go through a process of making those law and that will probably happen a little bit closer to the 1st of July. So I hope that answers the question for you.
Jasmine Snow:
Thanks Rob. There’s a question that we may or may not be able to answer that’s going to transition arrangement and kind of expectations from the Department. But I’ll pop it out there and you and I can add some thoughts. So the question is:
Q: When are providers required to start conversations with current clients that will be affected by new charges and how detailed do these need to be considering we still don’t have the rules or manuals?
So picking up on that obvious need for detail that’s been consistent throughout our time today.
Robert Day:
So I think the way that I’d answer that is I know it’s an issue that’s been raised with the Aged Care Transition Taskforce in particular and my understanding is that there’s a couple of speeds of engagement. There will be work that the Department does to reach out to all current clients and let them know what the changes mean for them but also some steps to make sure that you as providers are aware of what we’re saying to individuals and when because we’re conscious that you’re likely to be a point of contact for questions or clarifications. And I thought that I had seen some of that sort of generic information starting on the timeline in the next couple of weeks but I don’t know Jas whether you’ve got more to add to that.
Jasmine Snow:
I agree with everything you’ve said Rob. I know there is Comms colleagues, Transition colleagues working really, really closely across the entire reform effort making sure we’re coordinated in terms of our communication to existing aged care consumers. From a Support at Home perspective feedback from the sector has suggested that it’s likely from April that providers, particularly Home Care Package providers will sit down with their current clients and start having discussions about new service agreements and things like that. So we’ve got that front of mind for us in terms of making sure we’ve got key detail in the hands of providers ahead of that so we can support that process to occur.
And there’s a question here I just want to call out that I think is one we will kind of collect some information from our colleagues and consolidate a full response. So the query was around:
Q: What changes are there to First Nations support under the new arrangements for 1 July 2025?
Rob I didn’t know if there was anything specific you wanted to call out there or we might be best kind of coming up with a multifaceted approach and having a nice rounded answer for that one.
Robert Day:
Yeah. Look I think let’s bring some elements together but I think there’s a couple of changes that I’d want to call out. And so there is some work happening on First Nations specific assessment pathways and has been for some time but increasing work on First Nations support in terms of navigation across the aged care system. One of the other really big changes that we need to be aware of is that NATSIFAC providers for the first time, like CHSP providers, will be coming under the Act. That won’t necessarily change what the providers need to do but it will change that focus from being an obligation in a Grant Agreement to an obligation under law. And both we as the Department and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission will be working closely with those providers to make sure that you know what the changes mean for you, take you through the deeming process the same way we do with other providers but also help you understand what is that change that goes with being a provider under the Act.
Jasmine Snow:
Thanks Rob. And I’ll just add from a Support at Home context we will have thin market grants. So that will look to provide additional funding to providers providing specialised service delivery which could include to older First Nations people.
I think I’ve got one final question because we are coming to the end of our time today.
Q: With the start of the new reg model and the new residential system as part of the new Act what does this mean for place allocations and managing the number of beds at a residential home?
Robert Day:
Yeah. Thanks. Really good question. And people who have been watching for a while will probably know that one of the changes with the new Act is that residential aged care places will be assigned to individuals and not to providers with the start of the new Act.
I think what that means is when we deem you as a current residential aged care provider across to the new Act we will ask you about what is the total number of beds that your home is approved to hold and how many of those beds do you have available to potential residents and how many do you have offline because you’re choosing not to staff them or you’re renovating them or whatever the case – you might have subcontracted them out to a disability provider for example. We need to know those things for two reasons. One is the new Act requires us to have a look when we register an aged care home that the number of beds you’ve got is consistent with the approval for the building but it also lets us do that whole of system planning about how many beds are available, where might we need to see more beds come online. So although places won’t be a factor from the 1st of July it is an important question for your registration as a residential aged care provider.
And Jas if I can take the liberty I did want to call out the question about why is this a Department webinar when the Commission’s responsible for registration? I think the reason for that is we did get a fair bit of feedback. There was a lot of interest in the policy questions and even for the registration process. The Department’s responsible for the policy and the legislation. We do work really closely with the Quality and Safety Commission and in fact we’ve got a couple of further webinars over the coming months which will be joint Department/Commission webinars. So we’re not working in isolation. We’re not cutting the Commission out. But wanted to have that policy focus discussion for you today.
And I’ll hand back to you at that point. Thanks Jas.
Jasmine Snow:
Thanks Rob. So unfortunately that is all we have time for today. I’d like to thank everyone for joining us this afternoon and for your engagement throughout the session. I also want to reiterate thank you so much for the questions. We unfortunately haven’t been able to answer all of them but we will note them down. We will develop answers and we’ll make sure that we’re coming and responding to those questions through our website.
Just as a reminder the slides that Rob spoke to and I spoke to at the start of the session are available on our website. And the slide that you can see currently flags a number of resources that you can either access via the QR code on screen or the web link provided. They will direct you to a web page where you can find more information and resources about the new Regulatory Model including a provider booklet that unpacks the new model for providers. The last QR code and link will direct you to the webinar we held last November on the reg model that you may wish to review.
As mentioned at the start the recording and transcript for this webinar will be available on our Health website in the coming days. And I also encourage people to email us at the AgedCareRegModel@health.gov.au if you have other questions about the reg model, the deeming process or the transition process that you didn’t get a chance to capture in the Slido or for us to respond to today.
When the webinar finishes shortly there will be a short survey that will pop up in your browser. Takes around a minute to complete and if people have the time we’d really value your feedback. It just helps us to improve our webinars going forward and we will look to have a lot more of these webinars in the lead up to 1 July as we think they’re a really important way to engage with the sector and hear feedback from people about their thoughts and concerns and sometimes that they are liking where we’re at.
Once again have a good afternoon everybody and thank you for your time.
Robert Day:
Thanks very much.
[Closing visual of slide with text saying ‘More information and further resources’, image of QR code, ‘New aged care regulatory model webpage’, image of QR code, ‘Provider booklet – Unpacking the new model for providers’, image of QR code, ‘New aged care regulatory model: how it will work – 14 November 2024 webinar’, ‘Keep an eye out for future webinars in 2025’, ‘Contact us at AgedCareRegModel@health.gov.au’]
[End of Transcript]
Webinar slides
New aged care regulatory model – Let’s answer your questions – Presentation slides
Presenters
Chair – Jasmine Snow – Acting Assistant Secretary – Support at Home Reform
Presenter – Robert Day, Assistant Secretary – Harmonisation and Regulatory Strategy Branch, Department of Health and Aged Care
About the webinar
The webinar began with a short update on the new aged care regulatory model, including a recap of key themes. The remaining time was dedicated to Q&As.
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