Aged care needs time to implement vital reforms

Realistic timelines are needed for historic aged care reform, according to the Aged and Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA).

With the new Aged Care Act currently before a Senate Inquiry, ACCPA said providers faced a mammoth administrative challenge when it comes to implementing such sweeping reforms.

“We fully support the passage of the New Aged Care Act, but reforms of such magnitude will take time to implement. The success of the new Act hinges on successful execution and that will take time,” ACCPA CEO Tom Symondson said.

“Depending on the reform, new requirements for providers should commence six to 12 months from the time all information is available.

“We can’t have a situation where parts of the new Act are implemented, with mandated requirements that simply can’t be achieved due to a lack of lead time. That would have a devastating impact on confidence in our system.”

Much of the detail of the reforms is still outstanding, including most of the rules to accompany the new Act, meaning providers are limited in how much they can prepare.

Transition timeframes are especially important for reforms related to system changes, ICT, pricing frameworks and changes to Support at Home.

“This scale of change is always incredibly hard. For example, entire computer systems will need to be upgraded or even replaced to respond to the reforms, but we can’t do that until all the information is available,” Symondson said.

“We’ve spoken to providers who are eager to get on with the changes, but their IT contractors are saying they need the final details of the legislation and rules before they can even begin updating systems. That could take six months or more from when they get it.”

Implementation of new registered provider requirements will also need substantial changes in management processes for entire organisations, including training the workforce in new reform and changed practices.

Symondson said this requires time to be carefully managed to ensure continuity of services while staff are away from the frontline receiving this important information.

“We need certainty, and we need time. Everyone wants this reform to succeed, but that means a staged approach to implementation should be adopted. We only get one chance to get this right,” Symondson said.

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