Home Care Packages Programme Fees

Section 2 (d) should be amended to include a breakdown of administration and case management costs, which are not necessarily captured in ‘care and services’. This transparency is critical for the care recipient to make an informed choice about the suitability of the care provider to manage their care.

In terms of administration fees, there should be recourse for care recipients where a provider takes an excessive amount from the care package in administration. Some providers have stated that administration fees are typically 30%, however CPSA has been alerted to cases where administration comprises 45% of the person’s home care package. At present, if a care recipient believes that too much of their care subsidy is going toward administration; their only option is to change providers. This, of course, is not always possible, given the tight home care package market. Care recipients should be able to complain to the Complaints Scheme and the Scheme should have the power to order the provider to lower its administration fees.

There should also be provisions for people who do not speak or read English and who require translation services, which would otherwise cost them a considerable portion of their home care subsidy. Care recipients should not be deprived of care services because they have had to spend thousands of dollars of their home care package on translating their care agreement and individual budgets. Unless these additional costs are met by the provider, outside the care recipient’s allocated subsidy, those care recipients will be disadvantaged because their subsidy is not designed to cover these costs.