Seniors

An overview

Agencies who receive Home and Community Care funding enter into a service level agreement. The agreement specifies how much money will be spent on each service type, in each region or for specific client groups.

Agencies are then required to submit quarterly reports to account for the services provided and assist with future planning. The format of these reports is the same for all HACC-funded agencies across Australia and the collection of data is known as the HACC Minimum Data Set (MDS).

HACC MDS objectives are to:

• provide HACC program managers with a tool to access data required for policy development, strategic planning and performance monitoring against agreed output/outcome criteria.
• assist HACC service providers to provide high quality services to their clients by improving internal management of service delivery.
• help consistency and comparability between HACC data and the other aged, community care and health data collections.

For more information about the HACC MDS see the Department of Health and Ageing website or email haccmds@dfc.sa.gov.au.

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Data collection

All HACC funded agencies providing HACC services to clients are required to collect and report data about the people they help.  Data is collected electronically on a quarterly basis.  To protect the privacy of individual clients, service providers collect de-identified client information which is then reported at the postcode level.

Due dates for submission for MDS data to the National Data Repository are:

• July - September: due 31 October
• October - December: due 31 January
• January - March: due 30 April
• April - June: due 31 July.

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Recording data

1. The HACC MDS National Electronic Form is free software that you can use. Download the free software.
2. Develop your own software program according to the technical specifications. For more information phone Disability, Ageing and Carers on 8207 0452 and speak to the Data Management and Performance Reporting Unit.
3. Buy your own software program. The Comparative guide to HACC software products and developers available in South Australia may help. Products in this catalogue are not endorsed by Government, they are intended as information only.

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HACC MDS agency training documentation

For training material to help understand how to record your data:

• view the training material on the Department for Health and Ageing website
• download:
  • training questions (PDF 126KB) (Word 194KB)
  • answers (PDF 152KB) (Word 193KB).

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HACC data helpdesk

Office for the Ageing provides a helpdesk function on a daily basis to all HACC funded organisations.  Assistance provided encompasses interpretations of submission feedback, assistance with reporting and interpretation of data definitions.

Quarterly and annual feedback of the reported service summary data allows funded organisations to reconcile their data.

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Annual bulletins

HACC MDS Annual Bulletins HACC in SA - Department of Health and Ageing.

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HACC SA Business Reports 

HACC South Australia Business Report 2009-10 (PDF 3.15MB) (Word 5.25MB). 

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