The power of HR data and real-time reporting in aged care

The best workplace technology makes life easier; it certainly shouldn’t add to the complexity of everyday life at work. Rostering in aged care is a good example. Even at the best of times, in industries without complicated, mandated staffing requirements, rostering can be a drain on time, prone to errors and a compliance risk.

In recent years, operations and HR managers working in Australia’s residential aged care industry have had to navigate through a spate of systemic compliance obligations, while also dealing with ongoing talent shortages – all while trying to provide the highest quality care possible to residents.

Since it was announced as part of industry-wide changes in 2021, the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) has added another layer of complexity. The AN-ACC aims to link funding to the actual costs of providing care. A major part of this is providing regular reports to The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission which show evidence of the residential aged care facility’s commitment to meeting minimum care requirements.

A quick recap:

• From October 2023, residential aged care providers were required to ensure that each resident was receiving a sector average of 200 minutes of care daily, where at least 40 minutes of care had to come from a RN.

• After 1 October 2024, this requirement will increase to 215 minutes of care for each resident daily, with at least 44 minutes being required to come from a RN.

• Residential aged care providers with an exemption to the 24/7 RN responsibility are still mandated to meet the minimum daily RN care minutes responsibility and must also submit related monthly and quarterly reports.

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission monitors compliance with the 24/7 RN and RN minutes of care requirements and takes action to enforce compliance where necessary.

Provider reporting

Providers are required to supply monthly reports to the Department of Health and Aged Care in relation to the 24/7 RN responsibility. These reports must include:

• Each time there was not an RN on-site and on duty for 30 minutes or more

• The reason for the absence of an on-site and on duty RN

• The alternative arrangements that were made to ensure clinical care needs were met during the time that an RN was not on-site and on duty.

In addition to the required monthly reports, providers must submit quarterly reports detailing RN care minutes to ensure the minimum daily RN care minute requirements have been met.

The Department of Health and Aged Care will share reports with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to monitor compliance with the increased responsibilities and will also use the reports to determine eligibility for payments to aged care providers under the 24/7 RN funding supplement.

Providers’ care minutes have a 22% weighting towards their star rating, published on My Aged Care. This star rating allows senior Australians to easily compare staffing levels between care homes. To say there’s a lot at stake is an understatement.

The Commission has made it clear that they understand there will be occasional ‘gaps’ where a residential home cannot have an RN on-site and on-duty. They are less concerned about homes meeting their obligations to the letter of the law; however, they are concerned about evidence of “risk to consumers”. This risk will be assessed by monitoring these datapoints (amongst others not listed here):

• Volume and pattern of the reported gaps in coverage, such as when shifts are partially or not filled

• Total care hours, type of staff coverage, and shifts (care minutes)

• Number and care needs of consumers

• Reasons for the reported gaps and the alternative clinical care arrangements in place

For further information, read The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s updated Regulatory Bulletin from January 2024 , which covers the requirement for providers to have a Registered Nurse on duty 24/7.

A time of significant disruption for aged care providers

The 2019 Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety made 148 industry-wide recommendations to improve operations and care outcomes, including the creation of a new rights-based Act, funding based on need, and much stronger regulation and transparency.

While many of those recommendations were applauded, they have also added pressure on providers who were already struggling with significant operational and funding challenges, not to mention acute talent shortages.

The 1 October 2024 deadline may mean providers need to take on additional staff to meet minimum resident contact times; however, the higher certification and proficiency requirements may also affect the number of available workers – which have been in short supply since the pandemic curtailed international skilled migration.

It has never been more critical to optimise the use of existing workers through smarter rostering, while meeting these new compliance obligations and ensuring the level of care never falters. 

Data insights and reporting on-demand

HR and operations departments are becoming increasingly reliant on data to make more effective, informed decisions. From hiring process effectiveness to tracking overtime, tardiness and absenteeism, the expectation today is that HR can support their decisions and meet compliance-related reporting obligations with the aid of data.

Humanforce has always been committed to helping our aged care customers meet their legislated minimum staff time requirements through our Workforce Analytics solution.

Humanforce Workforce Analytics allows you to view key datapoints in real-time to ensure your organisation remains compliant under the AN-ACC reforms, including:

• Your compliance with minimum staff time requirements

• Care minutes compliance reporting to maintain star rating for facilities

• Residential care minutes and RN care minutes against schedule in a single report

• Highlighting under- and over-staffing based on care requirements and scheduled hours

Our AN-ACC Real-Time Dashboard, found within Humanforce Workforce Analytics, adds greater functionality and helps providers analyse specific data to ensure they are meeting care minute reporting obligations.

For example, users benefit from:

• Real-time visibility of adherence to care minute targets, based on time rostered and time worked

• The ability to nominate which roles contribute to care minutes, and nominate the extent to which each role contributes to care through percentage allocations

• Self-service file uploads for care minute targets and occupancy rates

• The ability to view resident care minutes and RN care minutes against schedule in a single report to maintain star rating for facilities

• The ability to identify excessive and insufficient resourcing to ensure cost-effective compliance

• Flexibility to utilise API and integrate per residence per day (PRPD) data from external sources

• The ability to exclude leave time and training hours

• Beyond assisting with compliance obligations, there are numerous other benefits to providers using the dashboard. For example, HR and operations managers gain insights about labour demand and scheduled hours being worked, enabling them to respond quickly to changes in care requirements.

There’s also an element of rostering cost control, with the ability to improve workforce planning and increase or decrease rostered hours as required – and to see those costs as rosters are being created in our Rostering & Scheduling solution.

The challenges facing aged care providers are multi-faceted and complex. There are no easy solutions. However, amidst its range of recommendations, The Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) suggested back in 2021 that investment be made into new technology to help reduce administrative and physical burdens on staff, freeing them up for more face-to-face care. That, above all else, must be the priority.

About Humanforce

Humanforce is the best-in-one platform for frontline and flexible workforces, offering a truly employee centred, intelligent and compliant human capital management (HCM) suite – without compromise. Founded in 2002, Humanforce has a 2300+ customer base and over half a million users worldwide. Today, we have offices across Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.

Our vision is to make work easier and life better by focusing on the needs and fulfilment of frontline workers, and the efficiency and optimisation of businesses.

To learn more about how Humanforce’s solutions, including our AN-ACC Real-Time Dashboard, can help automate people processes in your business, please contact us.