AN-ACC and aged care: Is your clinical software AN-ACC ready?

A new residential aged care funding model, the Australian National Aged Care Classifications (AN-ACC), will replace the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) from 1 October 2022.

AN-ACC aims to provide more equitable care funding to aged care providers that better matches resident funding with the costs of delivering care.

After 14 years of the ACFI model, the move to AN-ACC will be one of the biggest changes to aged care in a generation – a move clinical software vendors must support.

AN-ACC and clinical management – all in the one solution

With the complexities of AN-ACC, helping ensure providers could manage their funding and clinical information in the one solution was a key priority for Telstra Health. While some clinical software vendors have announced they will not be developing AN-ACC features, Clinical Manager software has comprehensive AN-ACC management tools to ensure users can manage their care and funding experience in the one, easy to use solution. This reduces the need for time consuming duplicate data entry and creates one clear source of truth for your organisation. It also reduces the need to pay for potentially costly funding management systems in addition to your clinical management software.

Evidence management made easy

By introducing AN-ACC features, assessment tools and reporting, Clinical Manager enables providers to flag clinical documentation as evidence towards funding levels for assessors. This clinical evidence can be used to identify and alert staff when they need to apply for an AN-ACC reassessment to ensure facilities are receiving the funding they require.

Available AN-ACC features

Our Clinical Manager software provides the following AN-ACC functionality:

• Funding comparison report – The report enables users to compare the total ACFI funding versus the AN-ACC variable funding for each resident based on their classification.
• AN-ACC Assessment Form – The Assessment Form replicates assessments taking place as part of the AN-ACC trial.
• AN-ACC resident classification – Users have the ability to record the resident AN-ACC classification in an ‘AN-ACC’ funding section.
• AN-ACC facility information – Users can record the Modified Monash Model (MMM) classification and the approved beds for the individual facility for the AN-ACC funding model.
• Palliative care – Users can capture palliative care for a resident and identify residents who enter aged care as AN-ACC Class 1.

Here to support you for the long term

More AN-ACC features will be released over the coming months to both Clinical Manager and our wider residential aged care solution, including the ability to obtain the AN-ACC resident class, facility basic care tariff and respite classifications through our integrated Resident Manager software.

Our team will continue to work closely with the Department of Health to understand the upcoming changes in order to support providers in their transition to the new funding model. In the meantime, I encourage you to get in touch with our friendly team to find out more about how Telstra Health are supporting providers in their journey to AN-ACC.

Authored by Michael Donnelly is the Head of Aged & Disability for Telstra Health.