Aged Care Sector Delivers Budget

Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) has been leading the charge on the current updates to the Aged Care changes that will take effect from 1 July 2015. Providers are required to be registered through the My Aged Care portal for receiving and managing service referrals.

Initial reports from ACSA have been positive; with 93% of Commonwealth government funded aged care organisations now registered on the portal. There is still time to register before the 1 July launch date.While the large number of people accessing the help line for portal account activation has meant delays for some users, more staff have been allocated to deal with the enquiries so hopefully your wait time shouldn’t be too long if you experience any problems.

ACSA is also celebrating the details from the promised Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) announced in the Budget which the Department of Social Services appear to have delivered on.

Adj Prof John G Kelly, CEO of ACSA, said the funding of more than $1.6 billion a year for the next three years to 30 June 2018 gives certainty until the CHSP and Home Care Packages programmes are combined from July 2018.

"The announcement by the Assistant Minister for Social Services, Senator Mitch Fifield, that the mandatory national fees policy for CHSP would not proceed from 1 July 2015 is a relief," Prof Kelly said.

"A proposed fees framework, which outlines principles providers can adopt in setting and implementing their fees, will work better than a mandatory national fees policy," Prof Kelly said.