About the National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program
20 December 2019
By Glen Hurley, Chief Operations Officer
On 1 July 2019, the National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program became compulsory for all Commonwealth subsidised residential aged care services.
So, what are 'Quality Indicators' (QI) and what do they measure?
The QI provides data on all aspects of service provided by aged care homes, which contribute to the quality of care and services to residents’ quality of life and experiences. The aim of the National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program is:
- for providers to have robust, valid data to measure and monitor their performance and support continuous quality improvement; and
- over time, to give consumers comparable and transparent information relating to the quality of services in aged care to support decision making.
From 1 July this year, all Commonwealth subsidised residential aged care services are required to collect and provide quality indicator data to the Department of Health for the following quality indicators:
- Pressure injuries
- Use of physical restraint
- Unplanned weight loss
This information is gathered through routine care processes and submitted to the Department of Health.
Providers of aged care will be able to compare their results with a national data set. The timeframes and format of when this data will be available to Allity is unclear. In the meantime, we will continue to use internal data sets to continuously improve.
Source: Department of Health Website
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