Final Report on RREF 2001 - Department of Health

Part B: Development of Options for a Revised RREF
As the HACC target population includes only those living in the community, the next step in
calculating the base population for the RREF is to subtract those in residential care. The option
now proposed is more straightforward and more accurate than the method used in the current
RREF. The current method has a number of inconsistencies which arise when applying the
DACS statewide prevalence of handicap for the population in private dwellings only to the total
LGA populations projected by DOI, and then subtracting those in the “cared accommodation”
component of non-private dwellings, from age 85 years and over only. This limitation stems
from the restricted data available at the time the RREF was devised in 1992 and can now be
addressed
The DACS survey shows that virtually all those in the “cared accommodation” component of
the population in non-private dwellings have at least moderate levels of handicap. The actual
population in residential care is most appropriately subtracted from the handicapped population
in each LGA rather than from the total LGA population.
Exact figures on the population in aged residential care and in disability accommodation are
now available by LGA, and these numbers are subtracted from the initial RREF base population
for each LGA. The subtraction is restricted to the population in residential care and does not
include CACP places as CACPs draw on HACC services over and above those covered by
CACP funding, notably for nursing care. The substantial increases in CACP places may
warrant further consideration in future.
The total number of individuals aged under and over 70 with moderate, severe or profound
levels of handicap, the numbers in residential aged care and disability accommodation, and the
balance living in the community are detailed in Table 1.1.
Table 1.1: Components of HACC Base Population, 2002
Population component
Aged
under 70
Aged 70
and over
Total
Total population 4,358,102 449,726 4,807,828
Total with moderate, severe and profound 286,218 162,897 449,115
handicap
Living in cared accommodation 4,615 38,791 43,406
Living in community 281,603 124,106 405,709
1.4 ADJUSTING FOR THE FRAIL AGED COMPONENT OF THE HACC TARGET
POPULATION
A diversity of views about the need to adjust for the frail aged component of the HACC target
population, and how to make this adjustment, were expressed in the consultations and
submissions. This decision is informed by examination of the level of handicap in the
population under and over age 70, as detailed in Table 1.2.
<strong>Final</strong> <strong>Report</strong> July 2001 19