Capped home care fees could limit freedom to choose: ACCPA

New analysis by the Aged and Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA) has shown that restrictive capping of home care fees could limit consumers’ choices when accessing aged care services in the comfort of their own homes.

The report found that:

• Every Aged Care Planning Region (ACPR) with more than 600 clients has at least one provider with total fortnightly and package management fees of less than 20%, and the vast majority have providers with fortnightly fees of less than 15%.
• Most people (about 7 in 10) choose providers with fortnightly fees of 20–30%, skewing towards the higher end of this range. Remaining clients are split evenly between providers with fees above 30% and below 20%.
• Average package and care management fees are already lower than package and care management costs.
• The average home care provider has a lower margin than the average café.
   

ACCPA Interim CEO Paul Sadler said, “We are concerned the Aged Care Amendment (Implementing Care Reform) Bill 2022 currently before Parliament could give the federal government wide-ranging powers to cap any home care fee at any level without any parliamentary scrutiny.

“Any intrusive form of price regulation does not account for the range of choices that older people and their families autonomously make when accessing home care at various price points,” Sadler said.

“It may also inadvertently remove the option for providers to raise prices in order to pay for higher wages in the context of severe workforce shortages.

“Instead of a blanket cap on home care fees, a simple solution ... is to add a filter button to My Aged Care that would allow people to easily find high- and low-cost providers.

“It’s imperative that all pathways towards aged care services remain accessible and do not limit the choices of older people and their families. Rather, it should empower them with a range of options that suits their needs and financial circumstances.”

The full ‘Home care fees and choice: Analysis of data on fees and market share’ report can be downloaded here.

Image credit: iStockphoto.com/Dean Mitchell