Home care is being opened up from March, and retirement village operators can register to be home care providers, serving their existing and new residents.

Village operators can deliver these services themselves or they can broker the home care services out – and earn an administration fee.

According to our data, the average size of a service package is $18,000 – if operators take just 10% as their management fee, that’s $1,800 in the bank.

We talked to Julie McStay, Director of the national aged care and retirement living team at Hynes Legal, about how savvy operators can make the most of these changes:

Julie says many village operators can already show they have the organisational experience in delivering care and services to people in supported settings that will help them to meet the criteria for home care providers.

“Given many RV operators are providing services to residents of their village already, some under brokerage arrangements with an approved provider, it makes sense to capitalise on these changes,” Julie says.

“Having the RV operator manage the care recipient’s package could mean less administration costs for the care recipient and simplified arrangements where the organisation managing the package is the same one providing the care and services.”

Most operators also already have the systems in place, including IT systems, case managers and administration staff, to provide these services.

Coordinating their residents’ care can also give village owners a competitive advantage. “Village operators have the reputation in the local community which could assist with obtaining clients outside of the village in the local area,” says Julie.

But don’t delay – the Department can take up to 90 days to process a home care application. With the reforms launching on February 27, it’s time to act now.

Hynes has considerable experience in drafting home care applications and can assist you.

Find out more here.