Insights

We are getting great insight into what concerns people the most about the upcoming operational and compliance changes from Additional Services (AS) to Higher Everyday Living Fee (HELF). 

Since the Support at Home program was proposed in January 2022, we’ve considered its impact on key stakeholders. In this Insight, we explore how cost controls—particularly hourly rate caps—could shape flexibility, client choice, and overall expenditure.

Building on the success of our 2024 webinar series, Pride Aged Living and Inside Ageing will host five webinar workshops throughout 2025 to support aged care providers in preparing for the changes introduced by the new Aged Care Act.

We break down the StewartBrown ACFPS September 2024 results to provide our followers with a clear set of priorities if you want to shift from your current quartile to a higher one.

We’re hosting a webinar with ACCPA (soon to be Ageing Australia) on February 13: Unpacking Accommodation and Higher Everyday Living Fee (HELF) Charges

In this third and final insight, we focus on how the transition to HELF aligns with food, drink, dining experiences, and lifestyle activities under Standards 6 and 7.

Now that the dust has settled on the home care reform announcements, it is an opportune time to sit back and ask ourselves what strategic issues are contained therein.

We’re hosting a webinar with Inside Ageing on December 5: Pricing strategies for the new $750,000 RAD threshold.

As the sector grapples with inconsistent methodologies for setting accommodation prices, we are seeing greater interest in understanding how to establish and maintain a reliable pricing methodology.

We focus on the practicalities of implementing changes in your staffing mix and other changes to your rosters.

With all this uncertainty, it’s easy to say “We cannot update our strategic plan until the future is clearer”.

We’re hosting a webinar with Inside Ageing on November 14: New Strategy under the Aged Care Act.

This second Insight in our series on Strengthened Quality Standards and Additional Services explores Standards 3 and 4.

We’re hosting a webinar with Inside Ageing on October 17: Unpacking the Higher Everyday Living Fee.

Effective from 1 July 2025, providers will need to transition from Extra/Additional Services to Higher Everyday Living Fees (HELF).

We were pleased to see the Government take up all the key recommendations relating to the Support at Home program in its recently released response to the Taskforce recommendations.

We’ve been asking for a response to the Taskforce recommendations for a long time, and now we have it; well, we have some inkling as to what the future looks like.

The 1 October mandate of 215 direct care minutes aims to improve resident outcomes and ensure providers spend AN-ACC subsidies on care rather than use them to cross-subsidise deficits in hospitality services and or accommodation.

Pride Aged Living & Russell Kennedy are pleased to release our White Paper in response to Aged Care Taskforce Recommendation 11: Additional Services

This year marks an inflection point in the life of the pride. Or as the saying goes, we’ve recognised that “what got us here won’t get us to where we are going”.

Providers have shared with us their concerns and uncertainties about how the new standards will impact their Additional Services (AS) programs.

Like me, I expect you received lots of emails and summaries of the budget very soon after it was delivered. The main theme I’ve seen in these is disappointment that the Taskforce recommendations were not dealt with.

As you will appreciate, home care organisations are complex, and there are many levers that you can focus on to improve the cash flow and performance of your business.

We are concerned that the rush to analyse and digest the recommendations quickly has led to an overemphasis on the operational/ financial impact.

We welcome the recommendations of the Aged Care Taskforce and believe they support the trend towards more choice for consumers and improved sustainability for providers.

The final Taskforce report recommends additional service fees be embedded into the basic daily fee for both supported and non-supported residents. 

Pride Aged Living is pleased to present our initial insights into non-compliant and sanctioned facilities for home care, building on the Commission’s quarterly sector performance data.

In August, we published the results of our analysis of the Aged Care Financial Performance Survey (ACFPS) and the Quarterly Financial Snapshot of the Aged Care Sector (QFS) on Residential Care.

A year has passed since the Australian National Aged Care Classification system (AN-ACC) took over from ACFI, so we thought you might like to read a few case studies as you reflect on how your organisation has handled the transition.

The Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD) and Daily Accommodation Payment (DAP) aren’t just mechanisms to recoup the cost of accommodation; they’re strategic financial levers that underpin your organisation’s sustainability and prosperity. 

The Aged Care Performance Survey (ACFPS) and the Quarterly Financial Snapshot of the Aged Care Sector (QFS) highlight the percentage of residential services operating at a deficit.

As aged care providers strive for excellence in care, the importance of good clinical governance cannot be overstated.

Every residential care operator knows that sustainable financial performance starts with maximising income from residents. To do this, you need high occupancy rates of 92% or more, yet average occupancy is declining. 

In October 2022, Autumn Lodge in Armidale became part of Uniting and, in doing so, secured continuing access to quality aged care and retirement living for the Armidale community.