For profit aged care operators support funding changes
The Aged Care Association Australia (ACAA) National Congress has endorsed a series of no-cost and low-cost strategies to improve the industry’s capital position, including refundable deposits, or bonds in high care.
ACAA’s chief executive officer (CEO), Rod Young, also stressed the importance of looking at alternative strategies.
“Bonds have been the industry’s preferred position for over a decade and we will keep pushing that but other options need to be considered,” he said.
“I think it’s essential to look at ways of improving productivity and efficiencies without the huge costs.”
At the top of the list was a removal of the cap on daily accommodation charges for older people with higher incomes.
ACAA also suggests increasing the accommodation charge, for those on medium incomes, to a rate equivalent to the average bond in the previous year.
The congress endorsed a $280 million recommendation to link concessional payments to the previous year’s average bond as well.
On the basis of the other proposals being accepted, ACAA recommended that Aged Care Assessment Team assessments should be seen as a ‘ticket’ into the aged care system, without specifying whether a person needs high, low or community care.
