With more Australians than ever seeking to remain at home as they age, growth of the Home Care Package program is a national priority. If you currently have a package, or are waiting for one, it’s important to understand the choices you have about how you can access your support.
Choosing Mable to find and directly engage your own independent aged care and support workers is one of the best ways to get the most hours of care from your package. But that’s not the only benefit.
Why your choice about how to spend your Home Care Package matters
With the introduction of Consumer Directed Care in Australia back in 2017, consumers have more choice than ever about how to spend their government funding. This choice is crucial, not only to determining the quality of support you receive, but also the value you can get out of your package. Greater value means more hours of support for you or your family member, something which can directly impact quality of life.
How you can ‘self-manage’ your Home Care Package on Mable
Mable first introduced the term ‘self-managed Home Care Packages’ to describe how our platform works for people receiving support under a Home Care Package.
By signing up to Mable, you have access to an easy and safe online platform to search for independent care and support workers from your local area. Self-managing means you and your family do this part yourself. You find a worker you like, agree on an hourly rate, the services they provide and the days and times they provide support. All of this is done via our secure online platform.
You still need an Approved Home Care Provider to host your package, but by self-managing your package, we can introduce you to our Approved Provider Partners who offer a lower administrative fee, freeing up more funding for you to spend on your services.
Why you should self-manage your package with Mable
For some clients, choosing Mable is about the freedom of selecting your own support workers and deciding when they will come into your home to support you. For others, it’s about the peace of mind it provides about the safety and wellbeing of their loved ones. But for most of our clients, the overwhelming benefit is the additional support it provides through the unprecedented value that Mable and our partner providers can deliver. In fact, self-managing your package via Mable means you could get more hours of support compared to a traditional provider. Here’s a breakdown of how that works, and how many hours you would receive depending on your package level.
How to get started self-managing your Home Care Package with Mable
If you’ve just received a Home Care Package, here are the steps you can take to get started with Mable:
Step 1: Sign up to the platform for free, and start searching for independent care and support workers in your local area. If you know someone in your community who you would like to engage to provide you with support, you can bring them along, too.
Step 2: Call our customer support team on 1300 736 573 to find out which partner providers are in your local area. We’ll also explain how their fees work.
Step 3: Contact care and support workers directly to get to know them better. Agree the hourly rate you wish to pay, and the hours and services that work for you both. Many workers on the platform will offer a meet-and-greet for free, so you can meet in person to find out if you’re a good fit.
Step 4: Our approved Home Care Provider partners will host your package and we’ll send invoices to them directly on behalf of you after timesheets have been approved on Mable, so you don’t have to worry about it.
