Star ratings are coming, here’s what we know
July 6, 2022 | Aged Care Reform
By Shannon Sanderson, National Business Development Manager
The Department of Health held a webinar on the 16th of June focused on Quarterly Financial Reporting (QFR), where they gave an update on star ratings. Here is what we learnt during this webinar.
Why?
The Residential Aged Care Star Ratings are part of the Government’s aged care reform in response to the Royal Commission, and are designed to support consumers to make informed choices about their care. More information about this can be found on their website.
Who?
The star ratings program will include all Residential Aged Care Providers and is subject to ministerial agreement on weightings and design.
What?
The Residential Aged Care Star Ratings will be based on 4 categories. The categories and their weightings are:
- Consumer Experience – weighting 33%
The consumer experience information previously collected during accreditation visits will be used initially and will be renewed with surveys of 20% of residents conducted by a third-party organisation.
- Service Compliance with Accreditation – weighting 30%
This will be the same information that currently constitutes the dot ratings on https://www.myagedcare.gov.au/ and comes directly from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.
- Care Minutes – weighting 22%
The inclusion of care minutes was a key request from residents and their representatives during the consultation process. This data will be taken from a Provider’s QFR. This means if a Provider doesn’t complete the QFR their care minutes will not be included towards a Provider’s star rating.
- Quality Indicator Program – weighting 15%
This program has been in place since July 2021 and requires Providers to collect and report on
- Pressure Injuries
- Physical Restraint
- Unplanned Weight Loss
- Falls and Major Injury
- Medication Management
Where?
The Residential Aged Care Star Ratings will be published on https://www.myagedcare.gov.au/. Currently there is work being completed on a Provider interface to this website that will allow a Provider to preview their ratings before they go live.
When?
The planned roll out date remains by the end of 2022.
How?
Each category will have its own star rating and be given a weighting with an algorithm incorporating category weightings providing the overall star rating.
The ratings will be between 1 to 5 stars with examples given:
- 1 Star = Below Standard
- 3 Star = Average
- 5 Star = Quite Outstanding
The discussion on star ratings during the QFR webinar concluded by advising this is a well-developed project and work is rapidly progressing.
As with all information on aged care reform, we will update you as soon as any new information becomes available.
If you have any questions, please send them through to shannon.sanderson@mirus.group and we will endeavour to answer them.
