AHA was appointed by DoHA to conduct this major project, under the direction of a working group, to jointly develop a single approach to quality reporting for the HACC, CACP, EACH and NRCP programs and other community care programs. This project provided the first draft of the Community Care Common Standards (CCCS).

This appointment demonstrates AHA’s acknowledged expertise in current developments in quality reporting and assurance within the community care sector. Our work focused on developing a streamlined approach to quality reporting and developing a common set of quality standards for these services.

This project comprised two major stages:

Stage 1: Review and mapping of all quality standards and requirements relevant to community care agencies in Australia

Stage 2: Development of a Common Quality Reporting Framework – including common standards and requirements to apply to all agencies, and the assessment and monitoring framework to apply across all jurisdictions.

Key outputs from this project include:

• Single set of quality reporting standards to be applied across all community care programs
• National quality reporting framework and tools.
• Implementation plan, so that quality reporting requirements for service providers are streamlined, and duplication is minimised or eliminated.

During Stage 1, AHA reviewed, analysed and mapped a broad range of standards, including:

• ACHS – EQuiP Standards
• Quality Improvement Council (QIC) Home and Community Services Standards
• Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) Standards and Community Aged Care Packages (CACP) Standards
• HACC National Service Standards
• Commonwealth and State Disability Standards
• Australian Business Excellence Framework
• DVA Home Care Standards
• State frameworks for Service Excellence (SA) and Integrated Monitoring (NSW)
• National Mental Health Standards
• Multi-purpose Services Standards