What is it?
The 24/7 Registered Nurse Supplement was introduced from July 1, 2023 and is additional funding paid to providers to help meet the new 24/7 Registered Nurse Requirement. This additional funding is focused on smaller facilities (<= 60 Residents) so that they can employ extra RNs on site, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Who’s Eligible?
The supplement is only provided to facilities that have 60 Residents or less, on average, for a calendar month. Importantly, this is an average of Residents in care, not an average of approved beds. So, larger facilities that meet this requirement may be eligible for the supplement!
Facilities that have an average of more than 60 residents per day across a calendar month will not receive this supplement. This supplement also does not apply to flexible care services such as Multi-Purpose Services (MPS).
Facilities that are exempt from the 24/7 RN requirements will not be eligible for the 24/7 RN Supplement.
How is the supplement paid?
The 24/7 RN Supplement is paid to the provider in a lump sum payment for the entire facility and not per resident like the Hoteling or Accommodation Supplements, for example.
How do I ensure it’s been paid to me?
You can find the total amount of 24/7 RN Supplement paid for your Facility in two places on your Payment Statement!
1. In the Service Payment Summary Section of the Payment Statement
2. In its own section towards the end of your Payment Statement
If you’ve got multiple residential care services at one facility, the supplement will be calculated based on all the services’ occupied bed days, and then will be paid through one of the residential care services.
When there are multiple facilities associated with one residential care service, the supplement is calculated based on the circumstances at each individual facility and then is paid through the residential care service.
How much funding can I receive?
The funding a facility can receive is dependent on a couple of factors:
- The average number of residents per day across a calendar month
- The location of the facility under the Modified Monash Model (MMM)
When calculating the funding, the number of Residents in care will be applied first, and then your Facilities MMM Score. The Department has grouped MMM scores into 2 categories:
- Services located in metropolitan areas (MMM 1 – 4)
- Services located in rural, remote, and very remote areas (MMM 5 – 7) to compensate for the additional costs that come with working in these areas.
The supplement rate decreases as the average number of Residents in care increases, until the facility reaches 61+ Residents, where it is reduced to 0. You can see this in the table below!
What do I need to do for my facility to receive the supplement?
Facilities need to do 3 things to ensure they receive their funding:
- Provide care to no more than 60 Residents per day, on average, in a calendar month.
- Provide a minimum of 20 hours per day of RN coverage, on average, in a calendar month.
- Correctly report their RN hours by the 7th calendar day of the following month.
The last point is really important! It would be disappointing to miss out on entitled funding due to an administrative delay!
Anything else I should know about?
From 2024-25, additional AN-ACC funding will be paid to Providers to support an additional 15 minutes of care per Resident per day. When this happens, the amount of RN supplement will be reduced and be only available to facilities with 50 residents or less.
In the 2034-24 Budget, the previously published supplement rate increased to account for the increased award provided to the Aged Care workforce.
Want to know more about what exemptions are available for 24/7 requirements? Check out our article here!
Tom Hart
Lead Funding Analyst
