Star Ratings preview: 90% earn three or more

Residential aged care services have received a preview of their overall Star Rating and sub-category ratings with over 90% of services earning three or more stars — out of a maximum of five.

“The publication of star ratings for residential aged care homes is an important milestone for aged care sector reform in obtaining greater transparency of services provided,” said Tom Symondson, CEO of Aged & Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA).

Symondson said the fact that 90% of providers have received a rating of three stars or above shows that services are good quality and are providing everything they are funded by the government to provide. They have achieved this despite extraordinary funding and workforce challenges.

“A Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety recommendation, the star ratings system means that consumers will be able to make an informed choice when deciding on an aged care service for their loved ones,” Symondson said.

“The ratings are equally important for aged care providers and the system; however, every effort must be made to ensure the information used to decide the ratings is both fair and accurate and that every effort is made to help consumers understand what the ratings tell us about providers.

“The scores for minutes of care are also reduced because they are taken from earlier in the year, at a time when the sector was neither funded for, nor required to meet, the 200 minutes of care requirement. We expect to see ratings increase in the new year as we approach October 2023 when that requirement begins and providers will be working as hard as they can in the meantime to recruit the necessary workers. This will be challenging, especially in rural areas where shortages are at their worst.

“Star ratings give aged care providers an opportunity to review their services and to see where there is room for improvement. We will be working hard with our members to help them improve their star ratings over time so that we can continue to meet the expectations of the Australian community,” Symondson added.

The Department of Health and Aged Care states that organisation administrators should have received an email containing their provider preview and that they should check and correct self-reported data by 17 December 2022:

• Quality Measures can be reviewed using the quality indicators tile in the My Aged Care Provider Portal, following guidance provided in the National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program Manual 2.0 — Part C.
• Staffing data can be reviewed against the Quarterly Financial Report copy that is emailed to providers upon submission. Any corrections should be directed to [email protected].
   

The Star Ratings Provider Manual contains information about the calculations used to determine an appropriate rating. Technical or IT errors can be reported to the helpline: 1800 836 799.

“We look forward to seeing the full details of the star ratings later this month,” Symondson said.

Image credit: iStock.com/Mikhail Blavatskiy