1. Consumer Directed Care:
There is more to it
than meets the eye
Jeremy McAuliffe
General Manager, Benetas Home Care
26 February 2015
Consumer Directed
Aged Care Regulatory
and Compliance
Readiness Summit 2015

2. Overview – What’s Hot
 A brief introduction
 A CDC transition experience
 Hot topics and burning
issues
 Clients, staff, finance,
systems, the future
 Lessons learned

3. About Benetas
 Anglican Aged Care Services Group was
established in 1948 by volunteers from
the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne
 Re-branded under the trading name of
‘Benetas’ in 2003 (which means ‘a good
age of life’ in Latin)
 Services provided across Melbourne and
regional Victoria - home care packages,
respite programs, residential aged care
facilities, independent living units,
retirement village
 We support clients with a continuum of
care from housing and home care
through to specialist residential care.
 1,400 employees and 400 volunteers

4. Setting the Scene
 When driving a car you
encounter various speed
limit signs, but these have
changed over time and
drivers have had to adapt.
 Drivers look for signs and
adjust accordingly.
 CDC is a changed sign on
the aged care roadway.
 Like a speed sign, if you
don’t read it right there
are consequences.

5. CDC: Getting Started
 Transitioning from traditional
Home Care Package service
models to new reform
responsive and CDC aligned
service models.
 Revising program procedure
and documentation to align
with CDC and reform
requirements.
 Reworking job roles to
enhance capacity to provide
CDC responsive services.
 Getting CDC finances sorted,
thinking about competition,
pricing and viability.

6. Client Expectation
 We set client expectations,
often from the moment of
first contact.
 The expectation we set will
influence the customer
experience sought by the
client.
 Client expectation can force
unsustainable and non-
competitive practice.
 CDC doesn’t mean that you
should create an expectation
that you cannot fulfill.

7. Client Fees
 The client fee landscape is
different and so are
conversations with clients about
money.
 The client fee equation =
consumer co-
contribution/income assessment
+ basic daily fee +
administration/management
charge.
 Each part is different and each
impacts at a different point.
 Operational practice, along with
financial and accounting process
is impacted.

8. Consumer Co-contribution
 Clients, whether old or new
lack awareness and
understanding of co-
contribution.
 It takes time to explain co-
contribution and income
assessment, time that is
unfunded and may delay or
block commencement.
 Co-contribution is not good
news to clients, and not
good news for your finance
systems.

9. Choice & Control
 Choice has focused on client
preference.
 Now it is multi-layered –
provider, service offer,
flexibility.
 Brand and service offer vs
flexibility and range of
services.
 Duty of care or dignity of
risk?
 Advice or informed choice?

10. Client Agreement
 Traditional client agreements
focused on compliance
 Client agreements should be more
about obligations.
 Consider CDC as a partnership
with shared responsibilities.
 What the provider will do, what
the client will do; and the
consequences of not doing.
 An agreement brings everything
together.

11. Finance
 Individual budgets.
 Accounting procedures CDC ready.
 Procedure to enable
contingencies and accrual of
client surpluses.
 Spreadsheets don’t talk to
finance and client management
systems.
 CDC brings increased financial
risk.
 Does your CFO understand CDC
finance better than you?

12. Commercial Practice
 Decipher service vs sales.
 Price your inputs and measure
your sales.
 Do you know your product?
 Input driven or caseload
burden?
 Stand alone and sustainable,
not cross-subsidised.
 Funded service refusal is a
fee for service opportunity.

13. Staff Engagement
 Adapt to CDC operational models
and the changed job roles and
new procedures and practices
that underpin these models.
 The challenge for staff is to see
CDC as a philosophy of care and
to adapt to the new ways of
working that this demands.
 Focus staff expertise on delivery
of exemplary customer service
and provision of an outstanding
customer experience.

14. Next Wave of Reforms
 Commonwealth Home Support
Program (CHSP), transitioning
programs, new guidelines, more
CDC.
 Screening and Assessment,
common tools, Regional
Assessment Service.
 Portals – providers, assessors
and clients - interface with
central client records.
 Client match and refer through
myagedcare.
 Program integration, individual
funding, provider ratings????

15. Critical lessons
 The sector is becoming more
commercial whether we like it or
not.
 Understanding CDC finances is
more important than
understanding CDC operations.
 Business modelling is not
program planning.
 CDC is a service philosophy, not a
program.
 CDC is organisational business.
 Do not underestimate the scale
of change.

16. Questions
Thank you for your interest and attention.
Contact me: jeremy.mcauliffe@benetas.com.au
More about Benetas: www.benetas.com.au