This project, conducted on behalf of the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care (DADHC) was designed to calculate unit cost benchmarks for the delivery of Home and Community Care (HACC) services in NSW. The project aimed to improve DADHC's understanding of the cost of HACC service provision and the factors which influence cost. It also assisted HACC service providers to gain a greater understanding of their costs.
The project had two key components:
- Development of a unit cost model
- Cost survey of service providers.
A HACC unit cost model was developed by AHA in 2001 as part of an earlier project for DADHC. The model is a sophisticated menu driven costing tool, which operates using Microsoft Excel. The first stage of this more recent project was to update this unit cost model. In particular, a number of new HACC service types and wage awards have been introduced, which were incorporated into the costing model.
Stage two of the project involved a cost survey of HACC service providers. All HACC service providers in NSW were contacted and invited to volunteer to participate in the study. A sample of those volunteering was selected so as to gain adequate coverage of all HACC service types and also a range of differing characteristics such as size and location.
Half-day training sessions were conducted in each region for providers participating in the study. These training sessions explained the project to participants and provided training in relation to the cost survey they were required to complete.
Information was obtained and validated from 294 services throughout NSW. This data was used to develop accurate unit cost benchmarks for each of the 14 HACC service types. In addition a range of cost drivers were identified and analysed to determine the extent to which they influenced unit costs. The factors analysed, included:
- Mix of service types delivered
- Organisation type
- Organisation size
- Use of volunteers
- Geographic location
- Years of operation
- Clients with an ATSI background
- Clients with a CALD background
- Client to staff ratios, for services delivered in groups.
The final stage of this project was to update the unit cost model to reflect the findings of the cost survey. This costing model will be provided by DADHC, to HACC service providers, to assist them to calculate their unit costs and act as a useful internal management tool.
If you require further information regarding this project please contact Richard Stock at AHA by telephoning (03) 9663 1950.