Prospective aged care residents are being turned away from services because they don’t hold enough value for operators – but they could represent an unrealised growth channel for marketers.

Many lower care residential care customers can’t find an aged care bed because they do not have the means to pay a Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD) – and Federal Government funding isn’t high enough to entice operators to accept them.

In our last issue, we highlighted the success of Gold Coast operator Odyssey Lifestyle Care Communities’ model, which blends retirement and resort-style living with higher-level care.

Odyssey operates under the Retirement Villages Act, essentially as ‘private aged care’ with residents purchasing their apartment and accessing care according to their wants or needs.

Its customers can afford to contribute to the cost of their care – but not everyone is so lucky.

Odyssey’s Business Development Manager, Rebecca Moraitis, told SATURDAY that this is one of the failings of the current aged care model.

“I’m not a huge fan of the RAC model,” she explained.

“I feel that [the aged care sector] is so tightly bound and reliant on funding that a lot of prospective residents [miss out], just because they’re perhaps not worth enough funding to qualify for a spot in residential aged care.”

Low means, low care residents “completely eliminated” from residential care

Rebecca speaks from experience. A trained aged care nurse, she has worked in aged care advice and placements for 16 years, first for two large residential care providers and then as a private broker.

“My role was to meet with the decision makers, find out where people sat clinically, socially and financially, and then match them as best as I could to their optimum outcome that they were after,” she said.

Rebecca found many people of low means who required low to moderate care were “completely eliminated” in the aged care space.

“There’s nowhere for them to go because no one wants a person that doesn’t have the ability to pay [and is] also going to generate low funding for them.

“And as much as I’m sure that the intake people feel a level of empathy towards people that are in that situation, their hands are tied. Over the years, the amount of people I’ve seen fall through the cracks with nowhere to go, but they need care is concerning.”

Keeping people at home not the answer

What then is the solution?

Rebecca says there is a need to review the funding model – which the Aged Care Taskforce is currently doing with its Interim Report expected next month.

Currently, these low means, low care residents are typically placed back into a more age-appropriate rental model and kept living at home with additional services such as transport and meals, said Rebecca.

However, this does not solve the problem of social isolation.

“Sometimes the reason that you can’t stay home isn’t necessarily a high clinical support reason,” she stated. “It could be isolation, it could be poor nutrition, it could be poor medication management, it could be a combination of any of those things.

“So, their reason for not being able to stay home isn’t solved by keeping them home. They’re still lonely, isolated, scared, not eating properly so additional funding doesn’t necessarily help those people.”

Residents and families want solutions – marketers can deliver them

But these older Australians and their families are open to spending some money – either through their Home Care Package or privately – to solve this problem.

“Families are open to it, especially if it’s been a burden on their time,” said Rebecca. “[They want to] find some of what services are available and whether there’s a cost or not, and whether the home care package can fund it, or they fund it if it’s a means to an end.”

In short, there is a significant revenue opportunity for marketers willing to look at services and solutions to support this customer segment.

By delivering to this cohort in the home, operators can grow their revenue streams.

These customers also represent a future funnel for aged care beds as their needs increase.

SATURDAY: These low care, lower means residents are an important customer segment that is not being served. Is it time for aged care marketers to change their thinking on their value?