The Department of Health and Aged Care (DoHAC) has awarded boutique management consultants HealthConsult an almost $500,000 extension on its $14 million contract to deliver Resident Experience Surveys in residential aged care in 2024 and 2025.
With approximately 200,000 aged care residents, and 10% surveyed over two years, our back-of-envelope calculations put the cost of each survey at about $350.
In 2024, the DoHAC also awarded HealthConsult, co-founded by Dr Lisa Fodero and Joe Scuteri in March 2006, a $1.2 million contract to pilot proposed Quality Indicators for Home Care. The Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority (IHACPA) also extended a $14 million contract with HealthConsult for the 2024 Residential Aged Care Cost Collection.
According to information supplied on the Federal Government's AusTender website, the Resident Experience Surveys contract requires HealthConsult to:
- provide annual Resident Experience Surveys for 2024 and 2025;
- reach out to all residential aged care services to schedule Residents’ Experience Survey once every calendar year;
- recruit, on-board and staff to conduct the surveys;
- deliver face-to-face surveys with at least 10% of residents at each aged care home each calendar year;
- trial expanding resident experience surveys to include flexible care types delivered in residential aged care settings, such as the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program and Multi-Purpose Services;
- supply each aged care service with a report on the outcomes of the surveys conducted at their homes; and
- prepare an annual summary of the Resident Experience Surveys to inform the sector of overall outcomes.
The Department will evaluate HealthConsult's methodology in 2025.
