A Real-Life $50,000 Care Minute Management Case Study

Client Profile

• Location: MM3
• Facility Size: 95 beds
• Base roster designed to support an occupancy goal of 97.5%

Tangible Goals

• Achieve between 100%–103% total care minute fulfilment rate
• Keep direct care roster cost within budget

The Emerging Situation

• Over a six-week period (three roster cycles), occupancy dropped to 92.6% following the discharge of five residents (a mix of ending respites and permanent discharges) who were not replaced due to an insufficient admissions pipeline.
• Lower occupancy meant two things: less funding, and fewer residents to care for.
• Several regular PCWs took unplanned leave, amounting to around 21 shifts during this time.
• To maintain the base roster, the roster coordinator continued to fill those shifts with agency PCWs at $65.50 per hour — about double the regular rate, and even higher for weekend shifts.

Outcome

• Total care minute fulfilment increased to 114% during this period.
• Regular staff reported that, because agency staff were unfamiliar with the home, they had to spend additional time away from their own duties to supervise them.
• Management observed that there was often not enough work when agency staff were rostered (a lot of standing around with little to do), chiefly due to reduced occupancy.
• As a result, the direct care roster cost exceeded the budget by approximately $5,600 (around 4%) over the six-week period — equivalent to nearly $50,000 in annualised cost impact if left unaddressed — without delivering any measurable improvement in resident outcomes.

Reflection

• This case highlights how occupancy fluctuations can quickly disrupt the balance between funding, care minutes, and cost.
• Without data-driven visibility and timely roster adjustments, well-intentioned decisions to "maintain the base roster" can unintentionally drive up costs and reduce efficiency.