The former CEO of Ryman Healthcare Australia came up with the concept of Shared Care when he was Chair of the Retirement Living Council's Care and Support Services Committee.
He told DCM Group CEO Chris Baynes and myself in May last year he had held "several constructive meetings with the Department of Health and Aged Care t
o flesh out how this policy could work in practice as part of Support at Home."
Chris exclusively revealed it was very much in the thinking of the Australian Government's Department of Health and Aged Care's thinking as far back as December 2023.
The concept of Shared Care is to take a small portion of a large number of village residents’ Community and Home Support packages and apply those funds to the full village, which would deliver economies of scale and investments in wellness supports for all residents.
Nick Morgan, Assistant Secretary Support at Home with the Department of Health and Aged Care, told the Department of Health and Aged Care webinar last Thursday that Shared Care remains more than a thought bubble.
"We are planning to run a small scale trial to test the option of budget pooling for participants living in group settings, for example, a retirement village or small rural town. The pooled funding trial will test whether it's feasible to combine some or all of the participants of participant budgets in group settings with a single provider to better address their needs.
"The department will run an expression of interest process to identify suitable home care package provider groups, likely five to 10 providers, to participate in the trial, and the pooled funding will test whether there are opportunities to use funds more flexibly for priority needs across the participant group, and opportunities to fund standing service offers for a group of participants who opt in and that they might use as needed.
"Any participants would have to opt in to participate in the trial with their provider. It would not be imposed on anyone. We expect that the trial will use a kind of subscription based model, like a gym membership if you like, to make this arrangement work. We'll be working that through in the coming months."
Daniel Gannon, Retirement Living Council Executive Director, said villages provide scale for delivering care services efficiently and cost effectively by reducing travel costs incurred by service providers, increasing the frequency of service delivery, and enhancing the quality and suite of services by leveraging those already in place at these communities.
"Our sector is already providing community-based care for residents at all stages of their care journey. However, we can and want to do more to ensure that older Australians are living independently for as long as possible by consolidating their home-based care to return a better service to them as consumers and reduced costs for government,” he said.
