Consumer Directed Care CDC

The Australian Government is funding consumer directed care in selected Australian Government community aged care programs (DOHA). Under the initiative, the Government will fund selected community aged care providers to deliver innovative service models, which provide care recipients and their carers with greater control over the design and delivery of the care and services they receive (emphasis on Choice).

 

Consumer (or self) directed care allows people to have greater control over their own lives by allowing them, to the extent that they are capable and wish so to do, to make choices about the types of care services they access and the delivery of those services, including who will deliver the services and when.

 

The model adopted for CDC packages is an individual budget based on a needs assessment and administered on the care recipient’s behalf by an approved provider for an agreed percentage of the allocated budget. Funds for an individual’s allocated budget will be drawn from the provider’s income, which is obtained from government subsidies and care recipients’ fees. It is not intended that in each case an individual’s allocated budget would exactly match the subsidy received by the provider in respect of that care recipient.

 

There will be three levels of subsidy depending on the assessed level of care to be provided. These three levels will broadly align with the existing subsidy levels of the current Packaged Care programs, namely, CACPs, EACH and EACHD.
An individual budget will:

 

• be allocated to the care recipient
• be based on a care recipient’s needs as assessed by the packaged care provider and agreed with the care recipient
• follow the care recipient’s assessment by an ACAT, which determines eligibility for a specific level of Packaged Care (eg, CACP)
• be held and administered by the packaged care provider for an amount agreed with the care recipient from the total budget; and
• be set for a one year period (evaluation will determine the future of the CDC places).

 

CDC Low Care

This level of care is similar to a CACP in that it may provide services such as personal care, social support, transport to appointments, home help, meal preparation and gardening.

 

CDC High Care

This level is similar to an EACH package in that it may provide services such as nursing, domestic assistance, in-home respite, personal care, transport to appointments, and social support.

 

CDC High Care Dementia

This level is similar to an EACHD package and will provide care services to people living in the community who have high level, complex care needs and also experience behaviours and symptoms associated with dementia that affect their ability to live independently.

 

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