Profits are up slightly for home care providers, according to the latest government report.
Published by the Department of Health and Aged Care, the Quarterly Financial Snapshot for July to September 2023 shows net profits before tax rose during the period compared to the year before by $0.71 to $5.68 per recipient per day.
However, the percentage of home care providers making a net profit fell by 2.2 per cent to 76.2 per cent of operators, compared to 78.4 per cent the previous quarter.
Collectively, during the period, for-profit and not-for-profit providers returned a net profit of $129.2 million.
Providers also saw revenue increase to $73.15 per care recipient per day – up $4.10 the year before. “Revenue increases are primarily the result of increased Home Care Package claims,” say the report’s authors.
Expenses also increased during the period to $67.47 per care recipient per day – up $3.39 from September 2022.
Of those expenses, the median total staff costs increased to $48 per care recipient per day – up $3.00 from Q1 2022-23. “The increase in staff costs is mainly attributed to the increase in wages for care workers,” say the report’s authors.
As for staff wages, the report shows the home care sector median of the average hourly rate was $50 for registered nurses, $38 for enrolled nurses, and $34 for personal care staff. Since Q4 2022-23, the department has collected additional information from providers so as to compare pay rates following the implementation of the workers’ pay rise.
Total median staff time increased to 54.40 minutes per care recipient per day during the quarter – up 0.75 minutes on the year before.
The July-September 2023 financial report is the third quarter for which data was available following changes to reduce administration and management charges in the HCP program – from 1 January 2023, care management charges were capped at 20 per cent while package management was capped at 15 per cent of the package level.
During Q1 2023-24, all package levels were under the 20 per cent cap; all package management charges were under the 15 per cent cap.
From 1 July 2025, the new Support at Home program will replace the HCP program and the Short-Term Restorative Care program. Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Home Support Program will join the Support at Home program no earlier than July 2027.
Follow Community Care Review on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and sign up to our newsletter.
