2014AGED CARE APPROVALS ROUND - ESSENTIAL GUIDE

SECTION 2–HOME CARE PLACES

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT APPLYING FOR HOME CARE PLACES

  1. Purpose of this Section

This section of the 2014 ACAR Essential Guide provides instructions on how to complete your application(s) for home care places.The information in this section should be read in conjunction with:

  • Section 1 ‘Introduction’ and Section 7 ‘Regional Distribution of Aged Care Places’;
  • the Home Care Packages Programme Guidelines (the Guidelines).The Guidelines include an explanation of the key design and operational elements of home care including Consumer Directed Care (CDC), which applies to all home care places allocated in the 2014 ACAR.The Guidelines are available at:
  • the‘Questions and Answers’, available on the Department’s website at:
  1. Important considerations for the 2014 ACAR

All applicants for home care places must be aware of the following considerations relating to the availability of home care places in the 2014 ACAR:

  • Section 7‘Regional Distribution of Aged Care Places’ specifies the aged care planning regions of greatest need for further allocation of home care places:
  • these regions have been identified taking into account a range of factors, including population projections, current operational ratios, occupancy levels, and advice provided by the Aged Care Planning Advisory Committees;
  • Applicants may apply for home care places in any aged care planning region, however applicants must demonstrate exceptional need through completing Part 5 of the ‘Home Care Places’application form in:
  • any aged care planning region not listed in the ‘Regional Distribution of Aged Care Places’; or
  • any aged care planning region marked with an asterisk in the ‘Regional Distribution of Aged Care Places’; and
  • page 13 of this section has a discussion of the Department’s approach to determining exceptional need.

NOTE: All applicants applying in regions listed on page 13MUST completePart 5 of the ‘Home Care Places’ form. Failure to complete this section will constitute an invalid application.

Consumer Directed Care and Evaluation

All home care places allocated in the 2014 ACAR will be subject to a condition of allocation that the places be offered on a Consumer Directed Care (CDC) basis, and subject to an evaluation.The number of the places allocated may vary between aged care planning regions and across identified geographic locations, depending on factors such as existing allocations of places to individual providers, the size and remoteness of the region, etc.

New arrangements relating to home care fees

Care recipients entering home care from 1 July 2014, may be asked to make a contribution towards their care, based on their income, with safeguards of annual and lifetime caps, and financial hardship provisions.Under the new arrangements, the subsidy payable by the Government will be reduced according to the income-tested care fee payable.Further information about these changes will be available from the Department of Social Services website prior to the introduction of the new subsidy and fee arrangements in July 2014.

Use of information held by the Department and others

In addition to the information provided in your application, as part of the overall assessment process, the Department will consider any other relevant information available to it, including but not limited to:

  • information obtained from the Aged Care Complaints Scheme and the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency;
  • information you have provided to the Department in relation to other assessment processes.For example, any application to transfer, vary or exchange existing places; and
  • information about your compliance history as a provider of aged care.
  1. Preparing your application

You should consider the following when preparing your application:

  • applications may be made by existing approved providers of home care, or organisations that currently do not deliver home care but have relevant experience demonstrating their suitability to deliver care;
  • if you are not an approved provider at the time of applying for home care places in the 2014 ACAR, you will not be allocated places until you are approved as an approved provider of home care under the Act.This approval process can take some time, and the Departmentencourages applicants to apply for approved provider status as early as possible.Further information on how to become an approved can be accessed at the following webpage link, Approved Provider Information.
  • you must complete a separate application for each State/or Territory that you are applying for home care places in;
  • in completing your application, you must:

complete Section A, Section B and Section Cfor the first service/aged care planning region your organisation is seeking an allocation of home care places at;
THEN

complete a separate Section B for each additional service and/or each aged care planning region for which your organisation is seeking an allocation of home care places; and

submit the completed Section A, Section B(s)and Section C of the home care places application form. Failure to submit all sections may result in your application being invalid and not proceeding to assessment.

  • should you be successful, places will be allocated by service in nominated aged care planning region(s); and
  • you are encouraged to apply using one service name and address for all new home care places in the sameaged care planning region.You may use an existing service name or you may use a new service name.You can use the same service namefor any of the four levels of new home care places (Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, or Level 4).
  1. Lodging your application

You are required to submit ONE original and ONE copy of your application.Applications are to be submitted to the Department of Social Services. Address details can be found in Section 1 of the 2014 ACAR Essential Guide.

Applications and associated attachmentscan also be submitted via email at further details please refer to Section 1 of the 2014 ACAR Essential Guide.

Please note:

  • applications will not be accepted by facsimile;
  • late or incomplete applications maynot be accepted;
  • attach documents only where required or requested, other documents will not be considered; and
  • ensure your application is received within the Department by no later than:

2.00pm on 4 July2014.

COMPLETING YOUR HOME CARE PLACES APPLICATION FORM

COVER PAGE OF APPLICATION FORM

Applicant organisation

Provide either your approved provider name, or the full legal name of your organisation if you are seeking approved provider status.Do not use abbreviated approved provider or legal names of your organisation.

State/Territory in which home care places are sought

Selectthe Stateand/or Territory to which your application for home care places relates. Refer to
page 3 of this section of the Guide for detailed information about completing the ‘Home Care Places’ application form.

SECTION A

PART 1: APPLICANT DETAILS

1.1 Applicant

If you are an existing approved provider, provide your Australian BusinessNumber (ABN) and NAPS ID number (if known).If you are not yet an approved provider, provide your ABN.

1.2 Applicant postal address

Thepostaladdress provided will be recorded as the address for all notices related to the 2014 ACAR.

1.3 Contact details

Provide the email and telephone contact details for your organisation’s contact person.The contact person is the person responsible for your organisation’s application, and as such should have a detailed understanding of your application.

PART 2: CAPACITY OF APPLICANT TO DELIVER HOME CARE SERVICES

  1. Management and ability to provide appropriate care

2.1 Describe your organisation’s expertise and experience in providing home care or similar services.

Types of information that could be included in your response to this question include:

  • your managerial staff including their relevant qualifications, skills and responsibilities;
  • details of the types of care your organisation specialises, or will specialise, in delivering;
  • your organisation’s experience, capacity and past history of delivering these services; and
  • your staff management, recruitment, retention and performance management strategies.

Applicants should note that the necessary expertise and experience is not limited to the provision of home care.Applicants with experience in providing other related aged care services, for example, Home and Community Care (HACC) services or organisations managing a retirement village are also encouraged to apply for home care places.

The word limit for this question is 750 words.

2.2 Describethe systems in place toenable your organisation to deliver appropriate care in accordance with the legislation.

All applicants must demonstrate how they intend to deliver appropriate care under the legislation.Your response should include practical examples of how you have, or will, provide appropriate care.

Types of information that could be included in your response to this question include:

  • the measures you have, or will put in place, to ensure your service staff provide home care of a quality that is consistent with the standards required under the Aged Care Act 1997 and Aged Care Principles;
  • your ability to monitor continuous improvement in relation to these standards;
  • how your service will coordinate with service providers and stakeholders in the community to achieve quality care outcomes; and
  • your ability to monitor staff compliance.

Applicants should note that the necessary expertise and experience is not limited to the provision of home care places. Applicants with experience in providing other related aged care services, for example, HACC services or organisations managing a retirement village are also encouraged to apply for home care places.

The word limit for this question is 750 words.

  1. Provision of appropriate care for people with dementia

2.3Describe how you will provide appropriatecare for people with dementia in a home based environment.

All applicants must demonstrate how they intend to provide care for people living with dementia.Your response should include practical examples of how you have, or will, provide this type of care.

Your response should address how you will:

  • identify the particular care needs of people living with dementia;
  • ensure the availability of suitably trained staff to meet these particular care needs;
  • manage challenging behaviour, provision of activities, medication management, and involvement of family members;
  • establish links with relevant key organisations and services;
  • ensure the safety and security of staff (including meeting work health and safety requirements); and
  • ensure the safety and security of care recipients.

The word limit for this question is 500 words.

  1. Provision of appropriate care for people with special needs

2.4 Describe how you will provide appropriate care for people with special needs.

This question requires you to demonstrate that your organisation can provide appropriate care for people with special needs. All home care providers are expected to be able to deliver appropriate care to people from special needs groups as part of their normal service delivery. In answering this question, applicants should consider how they provide care to the nine special needs groups identified in section 11-3 of the Aged Care Act 1997.

If you are intending to provide specific services for a particular special needs group you will need to provide more detailed information in Section B at question 4.1.

The word limit for this question is 500 words.

  1. Diversity of choice

2.5Describe how you will deliver home care on a Consumer Directed Care (CDC) basis.

Your application needs to demonstrate how you will deliver home care on a CDC basis.All new home care places allocated in the 2014 ACAR must be offered on a CDC basis.Successful applicants must participate in an evaluation of the Home Care Packages Program including CDC if required.

Your response should address how your organisation will:

  • ensure consumer choice and control;
  • provide support for consumer decision-making;
  • respond to the care recipient’s customs, beliefs and background, including their relationships with carers and family members;
  • incorporate wellness and re-ablement approaches; and
  • promote the care recipient’s independence and facilitate participation in the community (should the care recipient wish).

The word limit for this question is 500 words.

2.6 Describe how you will manage individualised budgets for care recipients.

A key requirement of CDC is that providers must provide each care recipient with an individualised and transparent budget.This will assist care recipients to make informed choices about care and services available within their package.The budget must clearly identify administrative fees charged by the provider.

Applicants should provide information about the systems and procedures proposed to effectively and accurately manage individualised budgets, including monthly statements of income and expenditure for care recipients.

The word limit for this question is 500 words.

  1. Continuity of care

2.7Describe how you will ensure continuity of care to current and future care recipients.

Applicants should demonstrate their capacity to manage care recipients’ changing care needs, specifically whether care recipients will be able to transition seamlessly between each of the package levels. You should include details of your organisation’s general approach to managing the changing care needs of the care recipients. Your response should address how your organisation:

  • utilises a mix of places within/across services to ensure that care recipient’s care needs can be met; and/or
  • establishes networks with other home care providers; and/or
  • linkages with other home care providers and/or other community care service providers such as HACC, residential aged care facilities and retirement villages.

The word limit for this question is 500 words.

  1. Protecting the rights of care recipients

2.8 Describe the measures you will implement to protect the rights of care recipients.

The Department will be assessing whether you understand your obligations in relation to protecting the rights of care recipients (and providing them with relevant information) as well as the strategies your organisation has in place to ensure that this occurs.

The Department will consider your understanding of, and commitment to, implementing:

  • complaints procedures;
  • arrangements to ensure availability of advocacy services;
  • appropriate security of tenure arrangements;
  • home care agreements; and
  • systems to protect the privacy of care recipients.

Types of information that could be included in response to this question include:

  • how your organisation will ensure care recipients’ rights are protected in line with legislative requirements;
  • that you understand your responsibilities as an approved provider, and the care recipients’ rights and responsibilities;
  • details of any communication strategies that you will implement; and
  • examples of how you will ensure care recipients’ rights are protected, and adequate information is provided to them about their care and services.

The Department will also be considering how you will ensure that care recipients entering home care on or after 1 July 2014 are provided with adequate information about the new fee arrangements that will take effect from
1 July 2014.

The word limit for this question is 500 words.

SECTION B

Please note: You need to complete this section for each service for which you are seeking an allocation of home care places.

PART 1: SERVICE DETAILS

1.1 Service details.

Provide the applicant organisation name, the name of the existing or new service, the NAPS ID number (existing services only) and the aged care planning region.

1.2 Physical address of the service.

Provide the physical addressof the service. If your organisation delivers the service from the head office without having an outlet or service office in the aged care planning region, record the physical address of the head office.

1.3 Service contact details.

Provide the email and telephone contact details for your service’s contact person.This person should have a detailed understanding of the application, as it relates to this service.Your service level contact must be different from your organisation contact provided in Part A.

PART 2: HOME CARE PLACES BEING SOUGHT

2.1 Home care places sought.

All providers seeking home care places are required to demonstrate their capacity to provide services that are appropriate to the needs of the individual and respect his or her preferences including any cultural, linguistic, religious or other preferences.Some home care places however will be allocated on the basis that the provider will provide priority of access for one or more special needs groups or in relation to a key issue.

The ‘Regional Distribution of Aged Care Places’ at Section 7 identifies where priority may be given to applications which focus on particular special needs groups and key issues.In some cases, specific geographic locations within an aged care planning region have been identified.

The table at 2.1 requires applicants to provide the total number of home care places being sought; a maximum number and a minimum number must be entered.The minimum number of places will be taken into consideration where the number of places applied for in the aged care planning region exceeds the number of available places.

As part of the table, applicants must also enter how many of the total home care places being sought are for general access and/or priority of access in the provided fields.Again, a maximum number and a minimum number must be entered. Importantly, the total of these places must equal the total number of places being sought.The difference between general access and priority of access is as follows:

General accessAny home care placebeing sought that does not focus on one or more geographic locations, special needs group or an identified key issue.

Priority of accessAny home care placebeing sought that doesfocus on one or more geographic locations, special needs groups or an identified key issue.