The Feb 14 deadline is approaching: Have you got your QFR right?

By Andrew Farmer, CEO and Partner

On 14 February 2024, all providers in Australia will need to submit the first QFR in the mandatory Care Minute era which began on 1 October 2023. The department has provided several boosts to funding since AN-ACC began a year earlier, including price increases for the Fair Work cases in July 2023 and December 2023.

Industry data and compliance trends

The total industry data tells us that the industry has moved significantly in the last quarter to improve the compliance to care minutes. This will put pressure on operating margins again, as the new model is designed to fund care minutes with a small operating margin only. Any provider operating at a one-star or two-star rating is surely on the radar for extra contact from the Quality and Safety Commission as they fall well behind the industry in coming up to speed with care minute compliance.

This is in advance of two key changes in the next 12 months:

• The first is a communicated review to compliance requirements that will see a three-star rating only achieved by compliance to both care minutes and RN minutes.
• The second is the increased industry target to 215 minutes (including 44 RN minutes) on 1 October 2024 (only 7.5 months after this next QFR is submitted).

We have star ratings reports for every facility in Australia; contact us to get your report now.

At Mirus, our experience over the past 18 months of working with providers to maximise the value of their recorded care minutes has shown that many still underestimate or inaccurately report their care minutes, often due to the regularly updated guidelines.

All providers should be seeking to ensure this first report in the mandatory period is as accurate as possible as Care Minute time reviews have begun and are quite thorough. We have supported a number of clients through this review process already.

Start your reporting in the new mandatory era right with multiple services at different levels to support the accuracy and efficiency of your care minute reporting process. We have helped providers from single facility to large listed organisations and understand the different operating models and structures across the spectrum.

Some key questions to ask are:

• Do you have an achievable quality roster as the starting point?
• Do you have all of the various roles added correctly under the two core rules?
• Do you have the percentages of hybrid roles correct; are they in line with the industry?
• Do you have alignment in documentation; will it stand up to scrutiny and review?

With only four weeks to go until reports are due, contact us as soon as possible. We can prioritise having an immediate impact on your reporting deadline while also providing insights and advice on how to further improve your care minute performance over time.