ACMA » News

ACMA welcomes a new Consultant

Peter Vincent — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 08:01:52 +0000

We are pleased to advise that Louisa Broadstock has joined our team on a part time basis. Louisa has a strong back ground in Aged Care, and will be operating as a clinical resource to our clients. Louisa is well known and respected within the industry and we are confident that she will bring new enthusiam and maintain our professional standards.

Louisa will be travelling with us to the Carex conference in Melbourne this week. Louisa’s firt appointment will be assisting ACMA undertake a 100% audit of clinical outcomes at Minda Home in SA.

ACMA Appointed Nurse Advisor To Kings Park Aged Care

Peter Vincent — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:09:09 +0000

ACMA was appointed as Nurse Advisor to Kings Park Care Service in December 2011. This Facility had been Sanctioned with 24 non compliance and had areas of Serious Risk. The Approved Provider made the decision to close the service following the notification of serious risk. The service was closed on the 5th of january 2012 with serious risk being mitigated on the 4th of January.

ACMA has now developed the range of support services required to meet the rigors of serious risk, and is well placed to provide immediate response to sanctioned facilities in the future regardless of their location. This support includes a range of allied health and clinical expertise as well as management and staffing options.

ACMA believes that the role of the Nurse Advisor is very much a ‘hands on lead from the front’ role that requires excellent communication, people skills, aged care knowlede and a committment to achieving the best possible resident outcomes.

Coroners review of use of ‘Bed Poles’ subsequent to resident deaths

Peter Vincent — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 02:04:27 +0000

The South Australian Coroner has ruled that in certain circumstances sufficient risk exists to question the use of ‘Bed Poles’ in certain circumstances. The coroner sighted cause for care recipients who have a history of falls from bed, impaired physical or cognitive function. It is likely ( and quite rightly) that the Department of Health and Ageing request ACASA to target a facilities ability to assess and monitor the appropriate use of Bed Poles.

ACMA recommends very strongly that all facilities review their current policy position in regard to the use of bed Poles and make appropriate amendments to reduce the extent of risk to residents. It is further recommended that allied health staff including physiotherapy and occupational therapy staff be involved in the assessment process for all residents who use bed poles.

Facilities who require assistance in the development of new or revised policy documents should contact ACMA as a priority.

ACMA Announces Key Service Changes

Peter Vincent — Sat, 29 May 2010 07:01:06 +0000

ACMA is pleased to announce a new ‘Key Services’ is now available to clients.

Due Dilligence Assessments

This service is available to organizations seeking to purchase or take over management of existing services. ACMA will under take pre-purchase assessment of current funding levels and identify opportunities to increase income in either capital or operating areas; examine operating expenditure including roster structure and skill mix, general consumable expenses and catering.

ACMA will undertake a detailed assessment of accreditation preparedness and research the accreditation and compliance history of the facility or operations of the vendor. Confidential reports will be provided to the client. For further information on how this may be of benefit to your organization please feel free to contact us.

A combined approach to assessment achieves 1.8 Million outcome

Peter Vincent — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 22:39:52 +0000

ACFI claiming can be grossly undermanaged, and cost organizations significant amounts of income. Good clinical governance is essential to ensuring care is provided, and that ACFI claims can be supported. Also critical to maximizing ACFI claims is having a Physiothreapist that understands pain management in aged care.

ACMA have completed over 1000 ACFI reviews across Australia and consistently identify trends in clinical assessment and claims management, that result in under and over claiming. The relationship between clinical interventions and quality care services can not be separated, unfortunately many organisations try to separate the two processes resulting in both poor quality and a vulnerable ACFI position.

ACMA has been engaged in numerous facilities to provide education and assessment of claims, which have resulted in all facilities increasing and sustaining ACFI income.

ACMA Completes ACFI review

Peter Vincent — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:56:35 +0000

ACMA is gaining momentum in reviewing and securing ACFI income. The relationship of ACFI to clinical governance outcomes and physio assessment combine to make claiming more effective is critical to maximizing ACFI income.

ACMA have achieved a sustainable $ 1.8 m increase in ACFI funding for one client after a 4 week investment in organizational review focusing on . . . → Read More: ACMA Completes ACFI review

ACMA News List

Peter Vincent — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:14:38 +0000

Following our recent review of ACFI’s claims and process with a ‘for profit’ organization in Brisbane, ACMA was able to identify $1.4m of unclaimed income based on the current resident population. This was achieved not just by examining ACFI claims, but by looking at all of the organisations clinical governance systems. Current ACFI education has focused on business rules and process, which is essential to ACFI process, however, a good clinical knowledge and sound clinical systems are required to both identify care needs and to be able to support claims.

The success of our holistic review process has again been proven with our current client enhancing forecast increases of $17.60 per resident per day (average) or an estimated $408,000.00 per annum. Working with clinical, medical and allied health staff our team work to provide an accurate risk assessment of the current ACFI position reporting both potential losses through validation ( either over claiming or unsubstantiated claims) and of course potential increases.

For further information contact us on peter@acma.net.au