The Home and Community Care Program (HACC) is jointly funded by the Australian Government and State/Territory governments. The bulk of home- and community-based services are provided under the auspices of the HACC program. It includes HACC assessment, care planning and coordination, personal care, nursing services, home help/domestic assistance, food preparation and shopping assistance (called 'Other food services'), formal linen services, home maintenance services, delivered meals, transport and allied heath care, home respite and centre-based day care, social support, and advice and assistance of various kinds. HACC also provides brokered and co-ordinated care to some clients through community options and linkages projects.
The HACC program has undertaken review and development work in recent years.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has played a central role in two projects aimed at improving the amount and quality of information available concerning the HACC program. These projects were:
- the development of an Instrument to monitor quality of care using the HACC Service Standards (For more information see four related AIHW working papers on obtaining consumer views on service standards [Nos 14, 21, 34 and 35], and report,); and
- the development of a national minimum data set for the HACC program.
Prior to the introduction of the HACC Minimum Data Set in 2001, information about the HACC program was derived from the Department's administrative grants database, the HACC Service Provision Data Collection (data collected in a sample month in May and November each year) and the HACC User Characteristics Survey (carried out in 1990, 1993 and 1997). Some results of these surveys are published in the AIHW Australia's Welfare series and the Productivity Commission's Report on Government Services series.
HACC service provision statistics are published by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and are available on their website.