The CEO of the family-owned operator which has around 10,000 clients, Jason (pictured above) appeared on a panel of CEOs at last year’s workforce hearing at the Royal Commission into Aged Care where he argued passionately for “clear air” for providers who were dealing with the Royal Commission, the new Quality Standards and new payment arrangements for home care providers which will see them paid in arrears.
We asked Jason how KinCare is dealing with the coronavirus crisis and what he projects for the sector for the next six months.
The CEO says their organisation has been lucky in that investment in their IT program enabled staff to make the shift to working from home in a few days with the only issue some congestion in their phone lines.
KinCare ensured they had adequate PPE stocks in late January though like many in the sector, they are facing a shortage of hand sanitiser.
“Our workaround was to ask staff to carry soap and a clean towel with them every day,” he said.
Despite these precautions, they have had some staff reluctant to see clients. This is being resolved through clear communication with staff and also overcoming some of the misunderstandings in the workforce.
“Take the issue of face masks,” he said. “The advice from government is that they are not going to stop you catching it, but are to stop you from giving it to someone else. It’s important to work through this with your workforce.”
They have continued to take new clients on board and Jason expects this to increase in the coming months because of the growing number of vulnerable people in the community.
He forecasts the next two to three months will be “doom and gloom” with tighter restrictions, and rising cases and deaths across the community – agreeing with the Government’s line that it will take at least six months for the situation to improve.
Like Dr Judd in yesterday’s issue, he emphasised the need for any solutions to be sustainable.
In three to four months, he expects “green shoots” as increasing capacity across the health system leads to the number of cases becoming controllable and a gradual loosening of restrictions as a result.
Likewise, the CEO says the response of organisations and individuals has been heartening. “It gives you real optimism that we will pull through,” he said.
However, he is advancing strongly to the Government to delay the new payment arrangements for home care for 12 months.
He says while the changes make sense – and Government cash flows into the sector seems fairly secure for the time being – providers should not need to be changing our business systems and managing new transactional process with the government in the current situation.
“The last things companies need is for balance sheets to be messed around,” he concluded.
Will the Government see the sense in this proposal?
