Coming soon: The Australian Aged Care Rating System

Aged Care Online Managing Director Ben Hannemann is the proud co-founder of Australia’s first quantified rating system for residential aged care, The Australian Aged Care Rating System (ACRS).

Mr Hannemann has partnered with Ansell Strategic Managing Director Cam Ansell and Millennium Aged Care Placement Consultants Managing Director Dana Sawyer in developing the new ratings system.

Once launched, any registered aged care provider will have the opportunity to review themselves against a consistent set of criteria.

ACRS representatives will then visit the site and validate their responses from an independent perspective.

The facility will be presented with a star rating based on that objective evaluation.

The criteria is divided into four main components: physical form, resident services, resident input and staff culture.

The ACRS does not include quality of care as a point of criterion, as it was found too subjective to be assessed outside of individual circumstance.

Ben and Dana have recently piloted the ACRS survey with BlueCross Community and Residential Services at their Darlee and Highgrove facilities.

Bluecross Manager for Client Relationships Julie Maya says she was excited to be nominated for the ACRS trial.

“BlueCross are enthusiastic about the potential of a nationwide aged care ratings system in validating to consumers the quality of our residential aged care service offerings,” she says.

Mr Hannemann says he is confident the new system will provide considerable assistance to consumers in weighing up their residential care alternatives.

“Finding a suitable aged care home for someone is a stressful, complex task and the introduction of the Aged Care Ratings System to assist in evaluating provider options is something we see as overdue,” Mr Hannemann says.

He says the system will be equally beneficial for the providers, as it allows them to showcase their services against a consistent industry benchmark.

The official launch of ACRS is expected in March.