A Year on AN-ACC

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 approach of our AN-ACC services is to build internal capacity and capability within our clients. We know that onsite teams possess the most intimate knowledge of their residents, not us. We are here to ask the questions, give a different perspective and lead your teams in the right direction. As our case studies show, this approach has enabled our clients to manage their AN-ACC classifications and assessments to best match the true care needs of their residents.

Each of the facilities in our case studies represents a unique set of circumstances requiring different strategies. Both have successfully embedded robust AN-ACC capabilities as demonstrated by their higher-than-industry AN-ACC performance. 

Facility 1
Limited reassessments, high staff turnover, no funding coordinator

Situation: AN-ACC assessments were predominantly based on initial shadow assessments. This is a large sized facility (=> 101 places) without a Funding Coordinator/ Specialist role. Funding is managed by the Facility Manager. In addition, the facility has seen a turn-over of the FM role in the last 12 months. 

Our Approach: We initially undertook a desktop assessment supplemented by an onsite review to reassess residents. This exercise identified $270,000 in annual funding uplift. Over the succeeding months, we provided education sessions, established AN-ACC procedures, continued to mentor and guide the Facility and Clinical Manager on completing clinical assessments that have an impact on AN-ACC funding. We also provided end-to-end assistance in managing reassessments. 

The result: Since the commencement of our AN-ACC Services, this facility has 

• achieved $504,000 in annualised uplift. 
• Our active presence with the facility ensured continuity of established processes and delivery of AN-ACC reassessment requests, despite the turnover of management. 
• The facility is currently maintaining its AN-ACC processes which we co-designed with them and 
• We continue to provide ad hoc support as required.

Facility 2
Strong in-house AN-ACC lead looking for validation of best practice.

Situation: AN-ACC assessments were still predominantly based on initial shadow assessments. This is a medium-sized facility (61 – 100 places) with a Funding Coordinator/ Specialist role and the Facility Manager is actively engaged with industry reforms, including AN-ACC. The provider wants to ensure that their teams are well supported and have access to industry updates and movements. The service has implemented its own AN-ACC processes but was unsure if it was optimised.

Our approach: Building on the existing resources and knowledge in the team, we identified and implemented improvements while ensuring the team continued to take control and ownership of their AN-ACC responsibilities. We also undertook a desktop review and onsite visit at the start of the engagement. This identified $225,000 in annual funding uplift. We continued regular active interactions with the facility to ensure AN-ACC activities still occur amidst all other operational matters.  

The result: Within less than a year of commencing our AN-ACC services, this facility has achieved $434,000 in annualised uplift. There is confidence internally that the team is equipped to manage their AN-ACC activities with our ongoing support.

How does this intersect with care minute requirements?

There’s no simple answer to this. We know that without active management of AN-ACC classifications, residents’ level of dependency or acuity and the support they need will likely exceed their funding classification. If this occurs, then we expect your actual care minutes will exceed the assessed requirement and staff workload will increase. 

This poses the following risks:

1. That a comparison of actual care minutes to required minutes could put pressure on reducing rostered minutes, this can lead to 
2. Staff burnout and turnover, which can lead to
3. Higher risk of clinical failures or reduced consumer satisfaction, which in turn generally results in
4. Higher costs and reduced viability

Another challenge with staffing is that higher acuity discharges are generally replaced by lower acuity admissions. This means lower care minute requirements. Flexing staff rosters down is very problematic. 

Both facilities in the case studies expressed concerns about not being able to resource the increased care minute requirements associated with the reclassification of residents and the possible negative impact on their star rating. We are pleased to confirm that both facilities continue to achieve 3 stars for their staffing star rating.

How we can help

Recently, we published an Insight that showed there is only a 3% difference between the highest and lowest average AN-ACC funding at the facility level. To us, this demonstrates that you don’t need to overcomplicate your AN-ACC management. 

Our Pride Aged Living AN-ACC Services give providers a structured approach that is tailored to meet individual provider needs in analysing AN-ACC data to identify opportunities for increased funding. We focus on ensuring AN-ACC classifications are as accurate as possible, setting providers with the correct baseline, ahead of care minute requirements. We also develop capabilities within teams so that funding and clinical outcomes are sustained.