Govt looks at controlling nursing home bond money
The Department of Health and Ageing is planning to crack down on aged care providers who use accommodation bonds to cover operating losses or divert money into non-aged care uses instead of using it for capital works, reducing debt or improving aged care services.
It is estimated that the current 58,000 bonds could be worth $7.7 billion.
The Australian newspaper reports that the Minister has been told of recent cases where bond money has been diverted into covering losses or, in one case reported in the press, to supporting a Melbourne soccer team.
The current 1997 Aged Care Act bond requirements ‘are very general’ in relation to using these bonds.
In the options prepared by the Department, providers would be held accountable for the subsidies they received through greater levels of reporting to the Government and providers could be given more obligations under prudential arrangements if they misused money.
