Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has confirmed what DCM Group has suspected: the ageing journey is much longer than many would think.
This week, Tim Hicks, Bolton Clarke’s Executive General Manager, Policy and Advocacy, posted the graph above on LinkedIn.
The figures come from a AIHW report published in December 2023 titled ‘How do overseas born Australians use aged care services?’ and utilises data on people using aged care services between 2019-20.
The data reveals that almost 118,000 of the 146,000 people who access aged care services prior to their death, or 81%, had been using services for over 15 years.
Only 7.5% had accessed aged care services for less than five years, with remaining 11% accessing them between five and 15 years.
92% used CHSP as first point of contact
The figures also identify that the first point of contact for most users was the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) – around 92% of users with the median age of first contact about 74 years.
Domestic assistance, allied health and therapy services, home maintenance, social support, and transport were the main services utilised.
When it came to the last type of aged care service used before death, the figures were more evenly spread with 43% using home support while 45% were in permanent care.
What does this tell us?
Firstly, the value of the aged care customer is potentially much higher than thought – if someone has say five years of home support plus another five of home care and then a stint in residential aged care, that is hundreds of thousands of dollars over the journey.
Secondly, the opportunity for new services to cater to this ageing customer is also much greater.
If a provider has someone in their care for years, they not only build up a relationship with them – they can also build an understanding of their needs and what supports may be best suited to improve their health and wellbeing.
Currently, the grant funding model for the CHSP effectively shuts out outside providers – and the delay to the transition of CHSP to Support at Home means that its nearly one million clients will not open up until mid-2027.
But there is good news.
The impending funding and legislative reforms being driven by the new Aged Care Act and the Aged Care Taskforce’s Final Report should incentivise operators to focus on services to help people ‘age well’.
Healthy ageing on the Government’s agenda
Last year, the Federal Health Minister, Mark Butler (pictured below), pinpointed ‘healthy ageing’ as one of five key priorities for an ageing Australia.
“We need to consider a move away from the acute, reactive, and episodic model of health care we currently provide – towards a more integrated system of multidisciplinary team-based care that recognises and supports the complex physical and mental health needs of older people,” he stated.
Already, we are seeing providers innovate in this area – see NSW provider Scalabrini’s new Social Hub trial as an example.
With Plan B – increased consumer contributions from those with the means to pay – likely to be on the cards, there should also be more capacity for ‘user pays’ – which should in turn help providers’ bottom lines.
As they say, prevention is better than a cure.
Is this the future of aged care services? To understand how other providers are strategising for the next three to five years and beyond, don’t miss out on our upcoming LEADERS SUMMIT, 19-20 March in Sydney – register here.