With Consumer Directed Care due to kick off in seven months the 80% market domination of the home care market by the Not For Profit sector is potentially on the table for ‘disruption’ by new digital entrepreneurs, with billions of dollars at stake.

In the UK NFPs lost 60% market share when CDC was introduced, and that was well before the digital marketplace reached any maturity, like today.

The most prominent ‘disruptive model’ is an ‘Uber’ style service that matches home care clients directly with home carers. The digital portal supports the worker to be an independent ‘contractor of one’.

At our LEADERS SUMMIT in March the figureheads of each side presented their respective value propositions for the first time. Their views have now spilled out into the open media.

Paul Sadler, CEO of Presbyterian Aged Care NSW & ACT and President of ACSA, representing 1,100 church and charity care providers, says “the NFP sector is not going away Australia”.

Peter Scutt, Founder of digital home care portal Better Caring, says “Models like Better Caring … are not the cause of disruption in the aged care sector, but the result of it”.

Sadler points out that Australia’s NFPs, unlike the UK, have an 80 year track record of innovation, have strong balance sheets and strong support by stakeholders – churches, community groups and government.

There is no doubt they are big, sophisticated organizations. And NFPs look after the most disadvantaged people in our community, the people the ‘market’ often leaves behind.

He says: “But we also need to challenge the disruptors head on:

• Is aged care merely a matchmaking job linking all people to care workers?
• Or is case management actually an essential professional role (undertaken by professionals like social workers and nurses) without which vulnerable older people will be left with second-rate service options and limited ongoing support?
• And will a workforce consisting of lowly paid independent contractors received the training and professional support required to provide high quality care”?

Scutt has responded: “We strongly support the vital role that case managers play, particularly in providing impartial advice – not influenced by having a product to sell – that supports a consumer’s right choice”.

“While some traditional nonprofits have chosen to see us as a challenge, many more see us as an opportunity to collaborate, evolve, and improve their offering”.

ACSA will be announcing a series of significant milestones over the next month. Sadler states NFPs will be focused on keeping the ‘mission’ in the ‘market’.