Use your communication system to help older people understand the agreements they are entering into, including the fees and charges for aged care services (Outcome 3.3).

Give information about agreements to older people before they enter into any agreements. It can also be before they start receiving care, whichever happens first. For example, give them information about:

• any agreements they will have to sign before receiving care or services
• any situations where a change needs to be made to a current agreement
• the terms and conditions about their rights and responsibilities, including in relation to personal possessions
• the aged care services you will provide
• fees and other charges they need to pay.

Include information about fees and other charges in agreements and invoices.

This information should help the older person exercise autonomy and make an informed decision about whether to enter into an agreement (Outcome 1.3).

Give older people, their supporters and others they may want to involve, such as family and carers, time to understand the information you have given them (Outcome 1.3) before they enter into any agreements or start receiving care. In particular:

• make sure workers give older people enough time to consider their options when entering into a new agreement. They also need to do this when the organisation makes changes to the prices, fees and payments.
• give older people time and support to ask for external advice if needed.

Help the older person, their supporters and others they may want to involve, understand the information you have given them so they can exercise autonomy and make informed decisions (Outcome 1.3). Consider each older person’s language and communication needs and preferences (Outcome 1.1). For example, use plain language, large text, images, or have a conversation with them directly. Check to see if you need to use interpreters or translators.

Make sure workers check that the older person, their supporters and others they may want to involve, understand the information they have given them.

The guidance for Outcome 3.3 has more information on using the communication system.
 

Put in place a system to manage prices, fees, invoices and payments.

This system needs to include processes to make sure that:

• the prices, fees and chargeable items specified in agreements and shown on invoices are accurate and transparent. This means invoices need to show the aged care services given to the older person. For example, invoices need to be itemised so the older person knows exactly what you’re charging them for. Make sure charges follow the older person’s agreement.
• you give invoices to older people, or people responsible for paying them, in a timely way
• you give invoices to older people in a format they can understand clearly. Consider older people’s language and communication needs and preferences (Outcome 1.1). Make sure that if they need any other support to understand this information, you document this in their assessment and planning (Outcome 3.1).
• you tell older people and those involved in their care when issues in invoices are found. Make sure you address these in a timely way and where needed, give refunds to older people (Outcome 3.3).
• you investigate any issues. Resolve any system issues to stop any overcharging or undercharging from happening again.

Do regular checks to make sure invoices are accurate and any issues with agreements can be found and resolved in a timely way.

Give older people or people responsible for paying invoices ways to give feedback or make complaints if they have been given incorrect charges (Outcome 2.6b). Don’t rely on older people to make complaints about incorrect charges. Instead, have strong systems in place to make sure billing is accurate at all times. These systems should also allow you to monitor complaints and record how you managed them.
 

Make sure that your system for getting informed consent from older people includes situations where fees and charges have changed (Outcome 1.3).

Use the system for getting informed consent when there are changes to:

• an older person’s aged care services
• fees and charges they have agreed to in the past.

Get informed consent from the older person before making any changes. This is so you can encourage them to choose freely and with dignity of risk (Outcome 2.1). This makes sure that you record changes about the older person when making decisions about their aged care services. This means you will be able to find records of care or financial changes that may affect the ability of older people or their supporters to pay the agreed fees.

The guidance for Outcome 1.3 has more information on informed consent and decision-making.
 

Make sure workers have the time, support, resources and skills to use the systems for agreements, invoicing and payments.

Give workers guidance and training on how to prepare invoices and agreements that are clear and easy for the older person to understand (Outcome 2.9). This needs to be in line with:

• the organisation’s policies and procedures
• workers’ roles and responsibilities.

Make sure workers understand how to:

• give older people prices, fees and payments:
  • that are sufficient, accurate and transparent
  • in a timely way
  • in a way they can view and understand.
• give older people enough time to think about their options before making decisions
• let older people know about any changes to fees and charges they have agreed to in the past
• get informed consent from the older person before you make any changes to fees and charges.

The guidance for Outcomes 2.8 and 2.9 has more information on workforce planning and worker training.
 

Monitor the use of your systems for agreements, invoicing and payments and how well they work.

Check if your workers are following your systems for agreements, invoicing and payments (Outcome 2.9).

To check if workers are supporting older people to understand their agreements, invoicing and payments, you can review:

• older people’s aged care services (Outcome 3.1). For example, care and services plans and progress notes.
• complaints and feedback (Outcome 2.6a and 2.6b)
• information about incidents (Outcome 2.5).

Look for situations where older people have had issues with differences in their:

• agreements
• the aged care services they receive
• fees.

Also, talk with older people, their supporters, families and carers about the aged care services they receive (Outcome 2.1). Ask them if workers have given them information about their agreements and fees in a timely way and in a way they can view and understand. These conversations can then inform continuous improvement actions and planning (Outcome 2.1).

Assess if workers are following your quality system (Outcome 2.9). You can do this through quality assurance and system reviews.

If you find issues or ways you can improve though your reviews and assessments, you need to address them. If things go wrong, you need to:

• practise open disclosure. This means being open about what has gone wrong. Share what went wrong with older people, their supporters and others they may want to involve, such as family and carers.
• put in place strategies to mitigate the risk of things going wrong again.

The guidance for Outcome 2.3 has more information on monitoring the quality system.