My Aged Care (My Aged Care)
The national contact centre and website through which an older person registers, is screened, is referred for assessment, and later finds a registered provider.
Responsibilities
- Register clients and record their circumstances
- Screen and refer for aged care assessment
- Publish the register of approved providers
- Record decisions, priority categories and referral codes
My Aged Care is a front door rather than a decision-maker, and the database records it because a front door that is hard to open is a barrier whether or not it refuses anyone.
The client here is, by definition, an older person — frequently one in declining health, frequently without confident digital access, and frequently arriving at the system in the weeks after a fall or a diagnosis or the death of the spouse who had been providing the care. Every additional step in this process is levied on that person, or on an adult child managing it from another city.
This project usually measures elapsed time because elapsed time is what costs money. Here it is worth stating plainly that the cost is different in kind. A developer waiting 245 days for an approval carries interest. A person waiting 245 days for home care carries the risk of the fall that puts them into residential care permanently, which is both worse for them and more expensive for the Commonwealth.
Where this body appears in a process
Every point at which My Aged Care can hold something up, and why.
| Process | Step | Why it waits | Clock | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Older person from first contact to first day of home care | Contact My Aged Care and register application | applicant | — | 21 |
| Older person from first contact to first day of home care | Screening and referral for assessment referral | queue | — | 14 |
| Older person from first contact to first day of home care | Find a provider and sign a service agreement application | applicant | 56 | 56 |
| Older person from first contact to first day of home care | Interim entry-level support while waiting referral | queue | — | 30 |
| Older person enters residential aged care | Apply through My Aged Care application | applicant | — | 21 |
| Older person enters residential aged care | Wait for a triage decision assessment | queue | — | 30 |