Quality Indicator program expanded, how does this impact your care?

The National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program (QI Program) has been expanded to include additional indicators that your aged care provider should be monitoring and reporting on.

Posted October 4th 2022

by Bianca Iovino

<p>The QI program requires Commonwealth subsidised residential aged care services to collect data and report on a set of quality indicators every three months. [Source: iStock]</p> — The QI program requires Commonwealth subsidised residential aged care services to collect data and report on a set of quality indicators every three months. [Source: iStock]

These indicators aim to expand the data collected by the Federal Government so they can appropriately monitor the aged care sector for quality and safety.

So what are these new quality indicators and what does it mean for you and your care?

What does the QI program do?

The QI program requires Commonwealth subsidised residential aged care services to collect data and report on a set of quality indicators every three months.

This Program is important because it asks service providers to measure, monitor and report important aspects of the care they provide to you or your loved one.

This ensures aged care service providers provide adequate and quality care, and makes sure data is provided back to the Federal Government so they have oversight into quality care across the country.

Providers must submit quality indicator data no later than the 21st day of the month after the end of each quarter.

New Quality Indicators

The program will further expand from April 1, 2023, to include an additional six new quality indicators for residential aged care, but are yet to be finalised.

These indicators are said to relate to:

Activities of daily living
Incontinence care
Hospitalisation
Workforce
Consumer experience
Quality of life

The QI Program aims to enhance how people understand quality in residential care services.

What do these new indicators mean for you?

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission monitors the quality of services in residential care and with this in mind if you or your loved one wants to issue a problem or complaint about a service provider, you can contact the Commission and notify them of the situation.

The Commission is then meant to contact the aged care provider in question about the issues raised and can conduct a spot check at the service to see if there are any more problems within the organisation or facility.

They can also request information from the provider at any time to see if they are complying with their responsibilities outlined by the QI Program.

This means you can be assured that the Federal Government is constantly checking that your provider is delivering quality care.