Managing overwhelm with Quality Indicator Reporting requirements
March 29, 2023 | Quality
By Taranjot Minhas, Consultant
The six new mandatory Quality Indicators (QI) will require specific data collection which can mean a lot of work for some providers. Without detailed processes and systems as well as allocating adequate staff time and resources for data collection and reporting, providers risk being inundated and overwhelmed by these new requirements.
To recap, from 1 April 2023, aged care providers are required to start collecting data on an additional six Quality Indicators which include activities of daily living, incontinence care, hospitalisation, workforce, consumer experience, and quality of life. This data will need to be submitted via the provider portal by the 21st day after the end of each quarter (so by 21 July 2023 for the period of 1 April to 30 June). You can find more details on the specific questions to ask and actions to take in preparation for these changes in one of our previous articles.
Some Quality Indicators require detailed data collection processes including specific assessment tools such as the Barthel Index of Activities of Daily Living, Ghent Global IAD Categorisation Tool, Quality of Care Experience Aged Care Consumers tool, and Quality of Life Aged Care Consumers tool. We’ve received feedback from clients that these, in addition to sifting through existing systems and processes to find number of hospitalisations and staff turnover in each quarter, are impacting their ability to manage this reporting internally .
What is required to manage this process for each services is a plan for this reporting activity including:
- Reviewing and analysing data in line with Quality Indicator reporting requirements
- Cross check reporting to identify incongruency between systems/tools
- Preparing Quarterly Quality Indicator Reports for submission to the Department of Health & Aged Care
- Setting up initial governance and reporting framework and
- Providing coordination and support through steering meetings to manage the program ongoing.
If you would like to streamline your processes and enable accurate information sharing in line with your Aged Care reporting obligations, get in touch with our quality, risk and compliance team
