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The future state of aged care in the Australian residential sector
The aged care sector in Australia has faced many challenges since the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety released its 148 recommendations, setting an exigent road to reform.
We’ve seen 8 key challenges emerge for aged care organisations:
Heavy disruption due to COVID-19 and the particular vulnerability of both residents and care workers in residential settings.
Boosted clinical care demand from an ageing population, with older Australians entering residential care later in life as they choose to live at home longer.
New model reforms for consumer-driven, market-based aged care which aims to drive higher quality of care, with a monthly care statement to be provided to residents and families, and star ratings allowing for more informed consumer choice.
Amplified compliance and regulation requirements with increased oversight by a better resourced quality regulator.
Changing legislation with the draft for the new Aged Care Act underway.
Managing funding changes with the forthcoming move to case-mix funding – Australian National Aged Care Classification (ANACC) by October 2022 and the planned introduction of care minute requirements.
Growing sector, scaling-up, and evolving through acquisitions and investment in new facilities.
More Government reforms following the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety including accepting recommendation number 68 relating to digital Health Care Technology and supporting providers to implement an electronic National Residential Medication Chart and adoption of My Health Record by June 2023.
Australian Aged Care Industry Outlook 2022-2026
Although the challenges are many for the sector, as it moves through reform towards a shared vision of a sustainable, high quality aged care system, the rewards of delivering improved care for an ageing Australia can be equally so. Reports by both IBIS and Ansell Strategic agree the industry can look forward to growth, consolidation and increased revenue in the coming years, with an increasing number of our elderly living longer.
As described in Ansell Strategic’s The Third Wave of Consolidation report, “despite all of these challenges, aged care represents one of the few certain growth markets in a post-COVID-19 world. For those that can get through this next period, a very different consumer market awaits – the Baby Boomers.”
The adoption of new technologies will be central to the sustainable growth of residential aged care.
The Royal Commission has advocated adoption of new technologies to enhance provider operations. As part of the final report summary, the Commission recommended that “the aged care system that we envisage will need to operate in a technology-enabled environment for efficient clinical, business and operational systems.”
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic meant that all members of our community had to embrace technology and this has demonstrated the real value that can come with this shift. We have seen the strength of ePrescribing, which not only supports contactless exchange of data but also reduces the reliance on paper scripts which are easily misplaced and not beneficial to our environment. We have also seen the improved connection using technology which while made possible through some bad experiences of lockdown, have shown us all the value that can be achieved through this medium.
This is the time to embrace innovative technologies and maximise the benefit that next generation aged care software can deliver and support in enhancing quality of service provision.
AlayaCare Residential
AlayaCare Residential, in addition to catering for all of your clinical & care requirements will shortly be releasing a new Financial Management module which can be used in conjunction with our clinical module or as a standalone product. This product has been co-designed with our customers and industry experts to deliver efficiency and automation of your key financial processes.
AlayaCare Residential’s Clinical & Care Management module provides clinicians with the ability to access resident clinical files at the point of care, via portable devices enabling real time data entry. All resident information is stored in the one central location, facilitating extraction, reporting and analysis of data. Open API’s facilitate integration with preferred third-party solutions including Medication Management, Pixalere Wound Care Management and PainChek Pain Management solutions.
AlayaCare Residential’s Financial Management module is a revolutionary solution that’s been designed especially for aged care providers, to streamline and automate time intensive routine financial processes – from initial enquiry and application, right through to admission and departures, billing and receipting, accommodation deposit management, subsidy management and electronic integration with Medicare. The new solution also includes a comprehensive data extraction, analysis and reporting tool.
AlayaCare is committed to supporting our clients boost both quality and sustainability and deliver better outcomes.
“We know and understand the industry and the challenges aged care providers are facing”, said Annette Hili, General Manager of AlayaCare ANZ.
“Our teams of expert technicians and product managers are currently working on advancing our solution to meet these needs.”
AlayaCare recently received a government grant to build a My Health Record integration into the AlayaCare system by December 2022. This work is currently underway to ensure that we are ready to meet the interoperability requirements.
To learn more about how AlayaCare can support your business with our Residential financial and clinical care management solutions, Contact us today.
