Published article: Positioning for Support at Home program changes
Find out why a multi-service model makes sense. This insightful piece is written for aged care & home care providers, on how to deal with the 1 July 2025 amalgamation.
Why a multi-service model makes sense
Without overdramatising, there is a small window of opportunity between now and the end of the first quarter of next year to ensure that the aged services industry represents itself in how it deals with the Support at Home (SaH) program amalgamation, scheduled to start from 1 July 2025.
The industry needs to collaborate as a mature, well-led voice, to ensure a business model that enables quality service delivery, encapsulated in a viable and sustainable financial framework.
This includes mapping out how to address the impending changes and how that impacts the Government’s plan for a ‘continuum of care model’ from the first point of contact with a client to the last point of service – a seamless delivery model that allows the history, care initiatives and preferences of clients to transition from service to service.
Significant structural changes need to be addressed in preparation for the next interim SaH program phase. These changes will have a direct impact on how providers deliver services going forward and sustain themselves as viable entities into the future.
Not all will survive, mainly due to lack of preparation and planning.
Reassess your business model
To successfully manage the changed delivery model under the SaH, current business models need to be reassessed. Providers should consider addressing the following:
- What does viability and sustainability look like under the new model?
- What mechanisms or levers do providers have to deliver quality services in a price fixed system?
- Will SaH services be further expanded, given the greater emphasis on services being delivered in the community rather than residential care?
- How will an expansion in home care impact on residential care providers, in particular occupancy rates?
- Should providers broaden their service delivery model to cover multiple care options?
- Will residential care providers need to consider including SaH and possibly NDIS servicing?
- To offer multiple care options across the continuum, are partnerships a viable option, as opposed to expansion of service?
- How can client data be moved with the client across the care continuum easily, to make care needs, history and preferences accessible, and to prevent loss of crucial information in the process?
They key consideration should be this: by promoting a multi-service care model, providers will unlock a wide range of synergies.
Expand your services
As part of the upcoming SaH amalgamation, providers in residential care should consider either forming business partnerships or expanding services laterally by directly taking up the delivery of other compatible care models.
Continue reading the e-Tools article on why competing across a range of sectors can lead to increased client numbers and activate a wide range of benefits….
Full article here in the ACCPA Aged Care Today publication, Autumn 2024 issue.
This information is published with permission.