Understanding the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) for Nursing Homes in Australia

The Aged Care Funding Instrument, known in the industry as ACFI, is primarily available to fund the core care needs of elderly clients in accredited aged care facilities.

While based on the differential resource requirements of individual persons, the ACFI is primarily intended to deliver funding to the financial entity or facility providing the care environment.

The ACFI consists of 12 questions about assessed care needs, each having four ratings (A, B, C or D) and two diagnostic sections.

The ACFI then proceeds as a 5 step process to become approved for funding.

Step 1: Assessment

Step 2: Checklist

Step 3: Rating A to D

Step 4: Submissions

Step 5: Record keeping

A best practice guideline for any nursing home or registered aged care facilities (RACF) is that they should have a sequence of scheduled assessments that culminate into a formal case conference, that includes the resident and/or loved one where their care is discussed. This case conference ends with a care plan and then is reviewed by the RN in charge of the care with their team every three months. The ACFI funding is the result of consultation and allocation of resources. Good clinical leadership is necessary in development of the care plan and the delivery of care.

Recently, there have been articles suggesting fraud and incorrect allocations of funds within an ACFI application. Whilst it would be rare that there is a false claim, more often than not facilities are actually not claiming enough of the funds available. It is essential that facilities are applying for the ACFI correctly. If facilities are not claiming the appropriate funding for clients the whole facility suffers. A domino effect occurs and resources that should be used for wages, services and equipment are not being subsidised effectively, leading to further pressure on facility staff.

The question here is should families know about the allocations of funding to which their family member is entitled?

The ACFI tools and system are designed for the service providers to validate the resources they use to care for the resident. It is not something that is shared with the representative/family. Many operators are not entirely clear on what's available for their facility or even how to apply until full assessments and validation takes place.

An ACFI application is a complicated and confusing system of resource allocation, even for facility staff and would only add further confusion by adding the input of information families/representative. It is simply a process that they don't need to be involved in unless an unmet need will have to be paid for by the resident or family. What needs to happen is the staff that are dealing with ACFI applications need to ensure that the application process has been completed correctly to gain all the funding for resources available.

Applying and understanding ACFI can be a challenge for facility managers. it is important that they and their key staff understand and know how to implement the Aged Care Funding Instrument effectively to maximise their funding.