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

Client Profile

Tangible Goals

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
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.