Bupa Asia Pacific's aged care operations returned their first profit in six years in 2023 on the back of higher occupancy rates, increased government funding, and improved rates of compliance.
As the sector continues to recover from the impacts of COVID-19, Bupa's aged care operations - which includes 58 aged care homes in Qld, NSW, SA and Vic, supporting about 5,400 residents - increased revenue over 12 months due to the introduction of AN-ACC funding, however regional aged care remained "a challenging operating environment".
At the end of 2023, occupancy was 91%, up 7 percentage points from occupancy the year prior.
Bupa APAC Chief Executive Officer Nick Stone (pictured above) said Bupa has a renewed focus on leveraging its wide range of businesses across health insurance, dental, optical, and aged care to drive better value and more connected care for customers and residents.
During the year, Bupa underwent a study focused on digitising its healthcare records and driving improvements through care home managers which has improved the provider's consumer satisfaction metric.
After experiencing compliance issues in recent years, which were aired during the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and in mainstream media, about 70% of Bupa's aged care homes today are rated 3 stars and 28% are 4 stars. Only one home is rated 2 stars.
In April last year, we reported that Bupa was turning away residents at some regional aged care homes due to staff shortages. Bupa also closed Bupa Donvale, in the suburb 20km east of Melbourne's CBD, in February last month.
Bupa Asia Pacific is fully owned by Bupa Group, a UK-based private company limited by guarantee with no shareholders. Bupa Group reinvests its profits back into the organisation.
