| Aged Care Act 1997 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Parliament of Australia | |
| |
| Citation | No. 112 of 1997 or No. 112 of 1997 as amended |
| Territorial extent | States and territories of Australia |
| Royal assent | 7 July 1997 |
| Status: In force | |
The Aged Care Act 1997 (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia, which regulates aged care in Australia, in particular services paid for by the government.
It has been described as a turning point for aged care policy in Australia. It led to an increase in private investment. Private equity firms, new foreign investors, and superannuation and property real estate investment trusts all entered the Australian residential aged care market. The staffing requirements contained in the Act have been condemned as disgracefully inadequate, and there is said to be “a complete absence of any positive and mandatory legal obligation on the part of facilities to take proactive measures to promote mental health and wellbeing of their residents”. [1]
On 2 March 2018 the Federal Court of Australia decided that Regis Healthcare's Asset Replacement Charge was not consistent with the Act. [2] These charges were intended to “fund reinstatements of fixtures, fittings and infrastructure, rebuilding and construction of, or at, Regis’s residential care facilities.” [3]
The healthcare industry is an aggregation and integration of sectors within the economic system that provides goods and services to treat patients with curative, preventive, rehabilitative, and palliative care. It includes the generation and commercialization of goods and services lending themselves to maintaining and re-establishing health. The modern healthcare industry includes three essential branches which are services, products, and finance and may be divided into many sectors and categories and depends on the interdisciplinary teams of trained professionals and paraprofessionals to meet health needs of individuals and populations.
Health insurance or medical insurance is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among many individuals. By estimating the overall risk of health risk and health system expenses over the risk pool, an insurer can develop a routine finance structure, such as a monthly premium or payroll tax, to provide the money to pay for the health care benefits specified in the insurance agreement. The benefit is administered by a central organization, such as a government agency, private business, or not-for-profit entity.
Healthcare in Canada is delivered through the provincial and territorial systems of publicly funded health care, informally called Medicare. It is guided by the provisions of the Canada Health Act of 1984, and is universal. The 2002 Royal Commission, known as the Romanow Report, revealed that Canadians consider universal access to publicly funded health services as a "fundamental value that ensures national health care insurance for everyone wherever they live in the country."
Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system.
Health care in Ireland is delivered through public and private healthcare. The public health care system is governed by the Health Act 2004, which established a new body to be responsible for providing health and personal social services to everyone living in Ireland – the Health Service Executive. The new national health service came into being officially on 1 January 2005; however the new structures are currently in the process of being established as the reform programme continues. In addition to the public-sector, there is also a large private healthcare market.
Elderly care, or simply eldercare, serves the needs and requirements of senior citizens. It encompasses assisted living, adult daycare, long-term care, nursing homes, hospice care, and home care.
The healthcare in Switzerland is universal and is regulated by the Swiss Federal Law on Health Insurance. There are no free state-provided health services, but private health insurance is compulsory for all persons residing in Switzerland.
A public hospital, or government hospital, is a hospital which is government owned and is fully funded by the government and operates solely off the money that is collected from taxpayers to fund healthcare initiatives. In some countries, this type of hospital provides medical care free of charge to patients, covering expenses and wages by government reimbursement.
Healthcare in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, with England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales each having their own systems of publicly funded healthcare, funded by and accountable to separate governments and parliaments, together with smaller private sector and voluntary provision. As a result of each country having different policies and priorities, a variety of differences have developed between these systems since devolution.
Health care in Australia operates under a shared public-private model underpinned by the Medicare system, the national single-payer funding model. State and territory governments operate public health facilities where eligible patients receive care free-of-charge. Primary health services, such as GP clinics, are privately owned in most situations, but attract Medicare rebates. Australian citizens, permanent residents, and some visitors and visa holders are eligible for health services under the Medicare system. Individuals are encouraged through tax surcharges to purchase health insurance to cover services offered in the private sector, and further fund health care.
Four Seasons Health Care is a British provider of health and social care services. It also owns The Huntercombe Group, a provider of inpatient mental healthcare and brain injury rehabilitation as well as care home operator, brighterkind. Four Seasons, as it is today, was created both organically and by the buying out of smaller chains of care homes and rebranding them, as evidenced by the takeovers of Tamaris and Bettercare and it was the second largest care home operator in the UK.
The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly funded healthcare system in England, and one of the four National Health Service systems in the United Kingdom. It is the second largest single-payer healthcare system in the world after the Brazilian Sistema Único de Saúde. Primarily funded by the government from general taxation, and overseen by the Department of Health and Social Care, the NHS provides healthcare to all legal English residents and residents from other regions of the UK, with most services free at the point of use for most people. The NHS also conducts research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Healthcare in Singapore or the Singapore healthcare system is under the purview of the Ministry of Health of the Government of Singapore. It mainly consists of a government-run publicly funded universal healthcare system as well as a significant private healthcare sector. Financing of healthcare costs is done through a mixture of direct government subsidies, compulsory comprehensive savings, a national healthcare insurance, and cost sharing.
Bupa, legally British United Provident Association Limited, is an international health insurance and healthcare group with over 38 million customers worldwide.
Health care in the United States far outspends that of any other nation, measured both in per capita spending and as a percentage of GDP. Despite this, the country has significantly worse healthcare outcomes when compared to peer nations. The United States is the only developed nation without a system of universal health care, with a large proportion of its population not carrying health insurance, a substantial factor in the country's excess mortality.
Private medicine in the UK, where universal state-funded healthcare is provided by the National Health Service, is a niche market.
Aged care in Australia, is the provision of services to meet the unique needs of older people in Australia. It includes both residential aged care as well as services provided in the home such as personal care, domestic assistance, home nursing, nutrition and meal preparation, respite services, continence management, mobility & dexterity assistance, transport, social support and the provision of equipment and aids.
Regis Healthcare Ltd is an Australian aged care operator listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Not to be confused with the Welsh company of the same name.
Japara Healthcare is an Australian company that operated aged care homes in Australia. It was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange until November 2021 when it was acquired by Calvary Care. It runs 51 homes across Australia.