A Tale of Two Care Minute Strategies

Health Generation
3 days ago
2 min read

Aged care manager sitting at a computer reviewing data and graphs to monitor care minute performance and CMS funding compliance.

I’ve been speaking with a number of managers overseeing funding and care minutes across their organisations. What stood out is that there are two distinct approaches emerging. Before getting into them, a quick recap:

The 2025 Oct–Dec quarter is the first assessment period for the Care Minute Supplement (CMS), effectively a funding penalty linked to care-minute delivery.
For Metro/MM1 homes, any under-delivery this quarter will translate to a funding reduction in Apr–Jun 2026 due to the three-month impact lag.

Camp 1: The Watchers

Some managers prefer to take a measured, retrospective view.

Their strategy typically includes:

Reviewing their Jul–Sep care-minute fulfilment.
Increasing or reducing base roster or agency usage for the current quarter based on that baseline.
Allowing the quarter to run and then reviewing the final outcome once the period closes.
Repeating the whole process for the next quarter.

Challenges

#1 This approach relies on past performance to make changes in the present period, without considering that key operating variables are forever changing, such as current care-minute targets, occupancy performance, or funding levels.

#2 By the time the quarter is done, the outcome is locked in and any damage is fixed, with nothing that can be done to change it.

Camp 2: The Preppers

Other managers take the Prepper path: a proactive, well-prepared, real-time model.

Here’s how their strategy works:

Using Jul–Sep as a baseline.
Setting clear targets for where they want to land this quarter.
Tracking progress throughout the quarter (in real time or near real time, via a reliable system).
Making routine, data-based adjustments to roster and funding as soon as variances appear.

Challenges

#1 This approach requires upfront effort to prepare and set up the right systems and processes, including up-skilling all relevant team members.

#2 It also requires different internal functions e.g., funding, rostering, and finance to work together on a unified process.

We’ve been working closely with the Preppers, helping set up the systems, processes, and team capability needed for real-time monitoring. Once established, this approach has proven to be far more self-sustaining and gives homes much stronger day-to-day control over their care-minute position and associated CMS risk.

💡 Our honest advice: consider becoming a Prepper.