Are you ready for ACAR 2020?

Updated 30 March 2020: 2020 Aged Care Approvals Round (ACAR) has been postponed until at least September 2020, so providers can focus on slowing the spread of COVID-19. We will continue to keep you updated.

In the meantime, visit our dedicated resource hub designed to help aged care providers through the COVID-19 crisis.

On offer for providers as part of the 2020 ACAR is:
  • 10,000 residential aged care places
  • 750 short-term restorative care places
  • Up to $60 million in capital grants for residential aged care.

ACAR applications themselves can represent a significant investment for a provider.

The lengthy application form requires time, effort and appropriate planning to develop a proposal for the best chance of success. With this in mind, even though the guidelines and application form have not yet been released, there are steps your organisation can take now to help get started on ACAR 2020.

Here are some of our recommendations:

1.  Develop a project plan to assign responsibilities and timelines to complete the ACAR application for a May deadline.

  • Review previous year’s essential guide / application form for what information will you require, and who can provide this.
    • Who will write what sections of the application?

2.  If undertaking capital works as part of your application:

  • Start building your 3-way financial forecasts (profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow) up to when your proposed construction project and new beds are fully operational.
    • Are you forecasting to deliver the beds in the required timeframe (i.e. 4 years)? Do your forecasts appear reasonable compared to previous actual performance and show a viable service?
  • Arrange for cost certificates and sign off by a qualified architect/construction professional to inform the capital project costs.
  • Consider how your project will be funded and arrange letters to support your application (e.g. in-principle agreement letters from bank)

3.  Based on application questions from previous years, we suggest collating the following key information if you’re applying for residential care places:

  • Understand your current service to special needs groups and key issues, and whether you want to apply for additional places under any of these groups.
    • Do you (or will you) support any special needs groups, such as ATSI, FSD, CALD? Do you (or will you) support dementia?
  • Create a plan for how you’ll deliver any new places (including details of any capital works proposed).
    • What is your model of care? Does this align with industry best-practice “social” models of care?
  • Determine your continuity of care plan if you were successful.
    • How will you deliver quality care during a transition to more places?
  • Collect evidence of local demand– i.e. collate data from local health and aged care services or ACAT team.
    • How will you demonstrate that there is under-supplied demand in your community?

The Bentleys  team are happy to help with any aspect of your ACAR process. We are experienced in collaborating with aged care organisations to deliver successful ACAR applications (including written components, financial components and whole-of-application reviews).

If you would like to talk to us about our 2020 ACAR support options or your ACAR strategy in general, please contact us today at [email protected]