“Providers can now dream they’ll keep their doors open,” says one provider of the increase in funding the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) funding model has delivered – but the boost is still insufficient to deliver the growth the sector needs.
It’s six months since AN-ACC was introduced, and though funding to providers has increased, it won’t be enough to solve the sector’s financial sustainability problems or deliver the growth in beds the sector needs – and there have been some teething issues.
The average funding received per resident per day under AN-ACC is $222.34 for the 80,000 residents that aged care consultancy Provider Assist has AN-ACC data for – an increase of $36 per resident per day.
“Under ACFI, that would have been sitting in the top 10% of the industry,” Peter Morley, Managing Director of Provider Assist told SATURDAY.
But inflation and other costs are eating into the gains.
Jason Binder, Managing Director of Not For Profit Respect Aged Care, which operates 20 aged care homes (1,700 beds) in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales, agreed that AN-ACC has increased his organisation’s funding, but he told SATURDAY it’s not enough to cover the cost increases their business is experiencing.
“Our average AN-ACC is higher than our ACFI was, but inflation, rising workforce costs due to shortages, and increased costs of compliance have more than taken any increases in income, so for us it won’t cover the increase in costs due to the mandated ratios,” he said.
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