Consumer Directed Care the buzz at ACSA National Conference

Much discussion was had about the impact on Not For Profits of Consumer Directed Care within Community Care and Home Care packages, to be introduced in August next year.

The challenge is that under the CDC philosophy, the client gets to choose the services they want rather than the service provider dictating which services they will offer. To put this in context, of the 1 million Australians receiving package services, just 65,000 are receiving medical services. The rest receive living support services, ranging from shopping to lawn mowing etc. And from Mid 2014 the consumer can cherry pick who they use for each of these – dismantling all structure and certainty for service providers.

Blue Care CEO Robyn Batten summed the mood up, stating there will need to be a “really big shift in culture”, moving from providing “a list of services to a tailoring of services”. Providers will have to “engage with people and their aspirations”.

She also identified the challenge of case management and overall responsibility. If one operator no longer delivers all the services to the client, who is accountable? Robyn also identified a need for a legitimate way to put offers before the public – education and marketing of the value proposition. Her message was to start this process now.

Rod Hunt (of Hunt and Fitzgerald) described CDC as “an earthquake” for its loss of certainty of income, given people will “move in and out” of packages. He also identified that clients will become attached to carers and will follow them over the service provider. He predicted that smaller providers will struggle.

Kevin Klose (CEO, McLean Care) expressed real concern about the need to now focus on individual client service costs, abandoning the spreading of costs over many clients. He used the example that he would no longer be able to deliver services to a client located 65KL out of town because of the high direct cost. Currently he would amortise that cost with a lower cost client in town.

Jan Horsnell (CEO Southern Cross Care VIC) stated SCC has “more (work) than we can handle and we need to maintain our values”. She pointed out that nurses are struggling with having conversations with clients”.

All agreed that education and marketing is key to survival in the new CDC environment.