Home Care Packages
Learn about using Maica Service Agreements for Home Care Packages
Home Care Package Service Agreements
Some custom fields have been added to the Support Category and Product Objects in Maica. These allow you to configure appropriate Products to represent the Home Care Package Budget and allow our Manage Budget feature to interrogate the Product Records that you have in your system and ensure that you can set up and manage the budget effectively, and in line with Home Care Package requirements.
Budget Items within a Home Care Package
First, at the Support Category level, we have categorised the various different line items that form a Package Budget for Home Care.
| Support Purpose Name | Description |
|---|---|
Billable Fees | Fees that are charged directly to a customer through a co-payment invoice. |
Claimable Fees | Fees that the provider can claim on behalf of the Home Care Package. |
Client Contributions | Money paid into the package directly by the client, such as a basic daily fee. |
Subsidies | The base subsidy paid by the government into the Home Care Package budget. |
Supplements | Additional pieces of funding that individual participants can acquire approval for, to help with specific needs. |
Setting up Support Categories for Home Care Packages
You can name your Support Category and Products however you like, but it makes sense to name them 'Claimable Fees' and using 'Care Package Management Fees' as the Product names for example. The idea is that Maica will allow you to have your own naming conventions.
While naming is flexible, it is essential that the appropriate Support Purpose option is correctly chosen. The Fund Management Type should also be set to Home Care Package.
Support Purpose is a configurable field within a Support Category, to which new values have been added to represent the categories of budget items within a Home Care Package.
Support Items
There are some attributes on a Maica Support Item that must be set up correctly so that they are useable within the manage budget interface.
Support Item Type
If you edit the Support Item, you will see that new values have been added to the Support Item Type. Specifically, you can see that there are now:
| Support Item Type | Description |
|---|---|
Basic Subsidies | A Basic Subsidy for home care packages is a government-funded financial support provided to eligible individuals to help cover the costs of home care services. It is part of the Australian Government’s Home Care Package Program, aimed at assisting older adults to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible. The subsidy amount depends on the level of care required, ranging from basic support for daily tasks to higher levels of care for more complex needs. |
Care Management Fees | Care Management Fees in home care packages refer to the costs associated with planning and coordinating the care services provided to an individual. These fees cover the management of the home care package, including creating care plans, organizing services, monitoring care quality, and ensuring that the individual’s needs are met. Care management can be provided at varying levels, depending on the complexity of the Participant's requirements. |
Package Management Fees | Package Management Fees for home care packages are the costs related to the administration and organization of the overall home care package. These fees cover tasks such as managing budgets, handling invoicing and compliance, maintaining records, and ensuring that the services provided meet regulatory requirements. They are necessary to ensure the smooth operation of the home care package and are separate from care management fees. |
Basic Daily Fees | Basic Daily Fees for home care packages are optional contributions paid by the individual receiving care to help cover the costs of their home care services. The fee is set by the government and is typically a small percentage of the aged pension. It helps supplement the government subsidy and can be charged in addition to the care management and package management fees, depending on the provider. |
Income Tested Fees | Income Tested Fees for home care packages are additional fees that some individuals may be required to pay based on their income. These fees are determined by the Australian Government and apply to those with higher incomes, contributing toward the cost of their home care services. The amount varies depending on the individual’s income level, and there are annual and lifetime caps to limit the total amount a person can be required to pay. These fees are separate from the basic subsidy and other fees associated with the home care package. |
Various Types of Supplements | Supplements for home care packages are additional payments provided by the Australian Government to support individuals with specific care needs. These supplements are designed to address special circumstances and can be added to the basic subsidy. Common types of supplements include:
These supplements help ensure that individuals with specialized needs receive appropriate care and support. |
These are important for both the budget building through managed budget as well as our fee automation and calculations on the Service Agreement.
Selecting the correct Support Item Type is important for Maica, so it can determine when you have added the Product as a Planned Budget and so we can correctly attribute the planned Budget Item effectively.
Funding Level
Funding Level defines what level of funding can be assigned and therefore set the rate against the relevent items.
For example, if we select a Care Management Fee, we can select from levels 1-4 and define a price level against each Funding Level by creating different Products.
A Care Management Fee for a Level 1 package will attract a certain rate, whereas a higher rate will be applied to a Level 4 package. The same applies for a Basic Subsidy.
Quantity Unit of Measure and Claim Type
These Support Items should all be set to a Daily unit of measurement because fees and credits into the Package Budget through Subsidies are always charged at a daily rate, according to rate schedule provided by the Commonwealth.
You should also set the Claim Type as Home Care Package. Maica has various different Claim Types that can be applied to particular Products, but by selecting the Home Care Package value, we ensure that these Support Items are visible in both the Manage Budget and Manage Services user interfaces.
Price Lists
Once you have configured your Support Items, it is important to set up a Price List and add our Support Items to it. At this point, you can set your rate.
In the image above, the Care Management Fee Level is set to 1 and it is a Claimable Fee. This means that this fee will be charged to the participant through our Maica fee invoicing engine. The Support Item Type is Care Management Fee, ensuring that it gets counted on their monthly statement as a Care Management Fee. You could add the Support Item to a Home Care Price List, then set the rate.
This is particularly important, because as we add this particular Support Item to a Service Agreement using our manage budget feature, it will pull in the rate that you have set because you have selected the Care Management Fee at Level 1.
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