‘Unrealistic’ reporting requirements – This week’s DCM Talking Point

This week, we heard about the increasing reporting requirements sought by the Department of Health and Aged Care, led by a conversation with Frank Price, CEO of RFBI. The Department of Health and Aged Care introduced additional reporting requirements at the end of October, meaning aged care providers are required to report, in a statement signed by the governing body, if they have complied with their duties under the aged care legislation. “With over 300 requirements that must be met at all times, the ability of providers to attest each time throughout the year that they have in fact been compliant is simply unrealistic,” said Frank.

“This is compounded by the way this information must be reported. Providers must also report BY SERVICE the common trends of complaints, feedback, and compliments. We have 22 homes and this is a sizable task, compounded by the fact that the actual list of questions we are required to respond to was only made known to the industry in the past few months – I wonder how the larger providers can manage this level of reporting without have people dedicated to this task. “An organisation of our size requires at least two people doing nothing else but collating and reporting this information.

“It would be very beneficial if the Department would visit a provider and sit through the reporting process as I very much doubt that they have any insight into the difficulties that this new process actually entails.

“At the end of the day, there is no one provider than can honestly say that they have met each of the 300 requirements at all times throughout the year, how does this rebuild trust in the industry?” Frank concluded. Please share your experiences with the reporting requirements: editor@theweeklysource.com.au The SOURCE: Some providers are forecast to exit the sector under the weight of the administrative burden created by the new reforms.