Of all the speakers we experienced at the ACSA conference last week in Perth, without a doubt the most riveting was Glen Rappensberg, CEO of Novita Childrens Services, the old Cripple Childrens Association of SA.
In summary, he laid bare the potential decimation of the home care service sector as we know it today.
Novita has been a pilot care provider under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) concept of Consumer Direct Care. He reflected on the lessons learnt and his predictions for the home care industry. Using my words they are:
- within three years all income will be from 'fee for service' - not government packages
- cash flow will be turned on its head – operators will be paid after the delivery of a service, not in advance
- there will be no loyalty by customers – it will be an open marketplace
- ‘care’ is ‘care’ - there will be no delineation between ‘aged care’ and any other form of care by new, market-driven care providing organisations
- everybody will be after your aged care customers
- only the lean, focused, customer centric and businesslike will win
Glen concluded his presentation by stating that Novita, traditionally a children’s disability not for profit provider, could be chasing the customers of ACSA members - aged home care clients. He will need to do this to remain commercially competitive.
Reflecting on Novita being an example of the re-engineering that is required for this new landscape, the NDIS pilot drove them over three years to totally reshape their structure and offering.
They acquired four new businesses and marketing brands and launched substantial advertising programs. The result: their number of care ‘clients’ has grown from 1,550 to 3,750; they now turn over $35 million with 400 staff. And they need more for scale to remain viable.
