Care Time Reporting Assessments (audits)

By Rob Covino, Co-Founder

In accordance with the Department’s Reform Agenda, the Department is initiating individual Care Time Assessments (audits) of your reported care time data as of October 1st.

Through our Care Time Reporting Assurance program, which leverages the largest hybrid role benchmarking data set, we have the capability to benchmark the defined allocation of each position description across the sector. To provide context, we’ve gathered data from nearly 200 services, allowing for a meaningful comparison with your service.

Notably, a growing number of providers, including ASX-listed organisations and their boards, have engaged Mirus Australia to conduct third-party assurance assessments of their compliance with government guidelines regarding reported care time. These assessments have yielded intriguing findings, including:

1. A staggering 92% of the providers we have reviewed have been underreporting their Registered Nurse (RN) and Direct Care Time. This underreported time represents a substantial sum of funded rosters that have not been accounted for in the QFR filings, amounting to millions of dollars.

2. Only 23% of the providers we have reviewed have a comprehensive policy in place that defines the position description, the percentage of allocated time to direct care activities, and a reference to the description of these activities.

3. Notably, none of the providers we examined had Care Minute Policies that were congruent with the activities stated within their individual Position descriptions.

The key takeaways from these insights have led us to collaborate with the Department of Health to formulate a hypothesis. The hypothesis stemming from these observations is that by enhancing the accuracy of reported care time by Residential Aged Care providers, a higher proportion of providers within the sector can meet mandated care minute targets without necessitating additional staff.

If you are concerned about the disparity between your care minute target and the actual achieved minutes, or if you are uncertain about whether your organisation is in alignment with care minute reporting as defined by the Department, there is a strong likelihood that those unaccounted minutes are already within your services.

We encourage you to reach out to us for a discussion on how we can assist you and your board in meeting this regulatory requirement effectively.

To find out more about our Care Time Reporting Assurance program, contact us today.