The care minutes targets for aged care providers will become mandatory on 1 October 2023. Here’s what you need to know to prepare.
Care Minutes – From Targets to Responsibilities
From 1 October 2023, the initial target of 200 care minutes per resident per day (including 40 minutes of care from a Registered Nurse) becomes a mandatory sector-wide responsibility. This means that on average, each residential aged care provider is expected to deliver this level of care. The actual care minutes target for each provider will depend on a few factors and is discussed below.
Providers should remember that their responsibilities relating to resident care go beyond meeting their care minutes. These include the requirement under section 54-1(1) (b) of the Aged Care Act to maintain an adequate number of appropriately skilled staff to meet the care needs of residents as well as obligations under the Quality Standards to plan and deliver safe and effective clinical care.
How are Care Minutes Determined?
Each residential aged care provider will have their own target for the number of care minutes they must deliver. This will depend on the specific aged care provider, the AN-ACC classification of each resident as well as the case-mix of the service. This means providers that have more residents with higher needs (higher AN-ACC classification) will be expected to provide more care minutes than providers with lower needs residents. The care minutes target calculation includes permanent and residential respite residents. Providers will be expected to meet their case-mix adjusted care minutes targets ‘on average’ across the service.
From 1 October 2023, the allocation of care minutes for each AN-ACC classification will also be changing. The Government has assured providers that their service-level targets are unlikely to change significantly since the service-level targets are averaged across all residents. The sector-level responsibility of 200 minutes per resident per day, including 40 RN minutes, will remain unchanged.
How will Care Minutes be Monitored and Enforced?
Aged care providers will be expected to report on their service-level care minutes as part of the Quarterly Financial Report (QFR). The Department of Health and Aged Care will undertake data validation processes to determine the accuracy of the data and to ensure that non-care activities are not being counted as care minutes. There will also be an ongoing auditing process to cross-check reported care minutes against other data sources. Providers who are not compliant or who are misrepresenting their care minutes data may be subject to enforcement action by the Department and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.
In addition, care minutes will form one of the four sub-categories for the purposes of the Star Ratings system for aged care providers. These ratings will be displayed on the My Aged Care website for each provider and allow consumers and their families to compare providers on quality indicators, compliance, consumer experience and care minutes.
What Do Providers Need to Do to Prepare?
Service-level care minutes targets are available as of September 2023 to allow providers time to prepare before the changes begin to apply on 1 October. Providers can check their service-level care minutes targets for the October-December quarter on the My Aged Care Service and Support Portal.
Providers can also access the AN-ACC funding and care minutes estimator on the Department’s website to assist with workforce planning and budgeting.
