From 1 July 2024, aged care homes with 30 or fewer residents providing RN coverage of between 12 and 21 hours per day on average per month will be eligible for a 'reduced rate' supplement, the equivalent of half the supplement payable if the home was eligible for the full rate.
"This aims to help smaller facilities grow their RN workforce towards 24/7 RN coverage," states the Department of Health and Aged Care (DoHAC)'s recently released 'Care minutes and 24/7 registered nurse responsibility guide'.
Supplement is worth thousands
Our back-of-envelope calculations suggest that under the reduced rate supplement, a home with 25 residents in a rural or remote area would be eligible for about $16,500 per month, half the approximately $33,000 they would be entitled to with the full supplement (calculated on existing supplement rates). Previously, the home would have been entitled to zero.
As is the case for the full supplement, the reduced rate supplement will not be payable to aged care providers that are exempt from the 24/7 RN responsibility.
(An exemption from the 24/7 RN requirement is available to homes with 30 or fewer beds in rural and remote areas that can show the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission they have taken "reasonable steps" to ensure the clinical needs of residents are being met but are unable to meet the 24/7 RN requirement.)
Some small providers still get nothing
The 30-bed limit will exclude many small providers that are spending thousands of dollars on agency staff in an attempt to meet the 24/7 RN requirement, David Reece, CEO of Not For Profit Victorian aged care provider AdventCare, said. He operates a small home in Warburton, 75km east of Melbourne, where it has been impossible to hire sufficent RNs.
They are spending up to $50,000 per month on agency staff.
"There are a lot of places like ours with 42 (beds), and we're going to get nothing," David told The SOURCE.
David will be lobbying the Government to expand eligibility for the supplement, potentially on a pro-rata basis.
Eligibility changes to 24/7 RN supplement
The Federal Government is also toughening up eligibility for the 24/7 RN Supplement.
From 1 July 2023, the Government has paid a '24/7 RN Supplement' for smaller aged care providers to help them cover the additional costs of employing RNs needed to meet the mandatory 24/7 RN requirement. The maximum Supplement is $79,395, paid monthly, for the smallest homes located in remote or rural areas.
The Supplement is only available to homes with an average of 60 residents or fewer that can provide 20 hours of RN coverage per day.
From October 2024, the Supplement rate will be reduced and only be available to facilities achieving 21 hours of RN care per day.
In addition, it will only be available to homes with 50 residents or less, according to the latest guidance in the DoHAC's guide.
"This is because AN-ACC funding will be provided to support delivery of an additional 15 minutes of care per resident per day, including an additional 4 RN minutes," the guide states.
