A referral to My Aged Care will trigger the process for you to be assessed for Commonwealth subsidised services and support.
If you are contacting My Aged Care by phone, the call centre staff will ask you or the person calling on your behalf a range of questions to determine your ‘level of care’ which essentially means how much help you need to complete your activities of daily living.
If you are making a referral via the website you’ll be answering questions that also relate to the amount of assistance you are requiring.
Website referrals ask the referrer to identify the relationship they have with the potential client.
Clinician referrals ask the referrer to answer more comprehensive questions about the potential client, whereas self generated or family member referrals ask less questions.
After answering all the questions, whether via phone or website, a recommendation from My Aged Care will occur and will suggest a Regional Assessment Service (RAS) as the assessing service or the Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT).
If the recommendation is for you or your loved one to be assessed by a RAS assessor, the answers you have provided to My Aged Care would be reflecting entry level services.
RAS assessors are not usually clinicians and they assess and approve for services and support which are provided via the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) previously known as Home and Community Care (HACC).
These CHSP services and support might be domestic assistance, personal care assistance, allied health, garden and lawn maintenance, home modifications, transport and social support.
Organisations (providers) that provide CHSP services and
support may be able to offer all these services or only some and there may be a
small cost involved.
Be advised that you are able to discuss with the provider if and how much you
are able to contribute to the cost of your services and support.
Sometimes the RAS assessor will identify that services and support are required that are more than entry level.
In these instances, the RAS assessor will refer on to the ACAT for a more comprehensive assessment and potential approval for a home care package (HCP).
Likewise, if during your phone call or website referral to My Aged Care identifies an assessment by an ACAT is indicated, you will bypass the RAS assessment and your referral will go directly to the ACAT.
ACATs assess for services and support for people who need more coordination and assistance.
For in home services and support, an ACAT will assess and approve for a home care package which could be a home care package 1 (lower level) through to a home care package 4 (higher level).
ACATs also assess and approve for flexible care and residential aged care facility entry.
The ACAT assessor will be a clinician and the assessment
will be more comprehensive than a RAS assessment.
The ACAT assessments take an hour to two hours to complete, depending on the
complexity and communication abilities of the person being assessed.
There are ACAT teams all across Australia.
If you live in a metropolitan or regional area, the ACAT assessor will come to
your home to assess you or your loved one.
It is preferable to assess people in their own homes as the information that
can be gathered provides a clearer picture of a person’s deficits and needs.
For remote areas, some ACATs have developed modified ways of completing assessments that rely on other clinicians or health workers to inform the assessment process.
If English is a second language, interpreter services are available also.
ACATs also work closely with other clinicians and specialists in older person’s care such as dementia support services, memory clinics and geriatricians and can often facilitate referrals to these services too.
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