Activities of the ACIitC and its various committees.

2015 is set to be a significant pivotal year for ACIitC.

Since ITAC 2014 there has been a comprehensive review of the activities and the structure of ACIitC. The ACIitC Board will be shortly announcing these significant changes as well as detailing our Strategic Plan for the coming years.
Late last year the Aged Care Industry IT Council was dissolved and replaced by the Aged Care Industry IT Company.
Originally formed in 2007 to represent and support the aged care industry in adopting technologies, the Council delivered tangible benefits to aged care providers. An important achievement in 2014 was a review of activities and a change in structure to respond to the demands and complexity of the sectors changing technology landscape.

The small change in name to the Aged Care Industry IT Company brings with it significant enhancements in structure, accountability and governance which have been aimed at providing a contemporary framework to deliver greater return on investment to its industry partners.
The new Board of ACIitC Ltd has been appointed and provides direct involvement of peak industry groups as well as the appointment of an independent Chair role.
Members of the Board are:
⦁ Adj Professor John Kelly CEO Aged and Community Care Australia
⦁ Patrick Reid CEO of Leading Aged Services Australia
⦁ Graeme Prior Independent Chair. Graeme is CEO of Hall and Prior Health and Aged Care Group
The Governance Framework has been restructured with the following appointments made to subcommittees and the introduction of a new committee focused on Residential Care. Other Committees are being considered and we look forward to providing information on these in our next AAA article.
The current ACIitC Committees and Chairs are
⦁ CIO Forum – Gavin Tomlins
⦁ National Home Care Group – Anne Livingstone
⦁ ITAC Committee- Rod Young
⦁ Residential Care Committee- Glenn Bunney.
These various Committees are charged with ensuring avenues are available to raise critical technology issues with the ACIitC as well as providing a vehicle to inform policy, funding and operational considerations for the Company to take forward to Governments for consideration.
A very significant development early this year has seen the establishment of a formal mechanism in which the ACIitC will engage with the Australian Government. This has seen the development of the Department of Social Services (DSS) Gateway and Aged Care Industry IT Company Forum which is to be convened monthly. This forum is to be Co-Chaired by DSS and ACIitC and is aimed at providing an important venue to discuss industry technology concerns in relation to current reforms as well as ongoing operational issues.
At the first meeting of the Forum in February it was agreed that the ACIitC National Home Care and CIO Forum Committee Chairs Anne Livingstone and Gavin Tomlins would work with senior DSS Officials to bring together a representative group of the aged care industry to Canberra to undertake user testing on the developments in respect to My Aged Care and the introduction of the Gateway.
A highly representative and diverse group of twenty two aged care providers were brought together on 12 March in Canberra for a full day workshop to provide feedback on the My Aged Care Provider Portal User Guide. This workshop was a highly collaborative one and provided a unique opportunity for providers via the ACIitC to have early interactions with the new technology structures and to provide the Department with constructive feedback on future developments required.
Department of Social Services My Aged Care Gateway Workshop Overall Rating
As part of the collaboration workshop a number of questions were posed to the attending organisations on their thoughts on the interaction and usability of the portal. Participants rated the overall day and collaboration experience with 94.45% of respondents indicating that the day was above average and a worthwhile experience.
The workshop user group was also surveyed about the overall user experience and impression of the My Aged Care Provider portal with 88.23% of participants indicating a favourable response of above average or good perception.
Usability and overall experience with My Aged Care Portal
The survey also sought to obtain feedback on the perceived professionalism and communication of the Department of Social Services Team on the day. The group indicated through their responses that 72.22% thought the DSS team were good with a further 27.78% electing to say the personnel were above average and met their expectations.
Department of Social Services Professionalism and Communication on Workshop day

Level of Industry knowledge by Industry workshop participants

An unexpected benefit on the day was the networking and industry collaboration on sharing solutions and ideas around Consumer Directed Care. When the question was posed directly to the group on the perceived level of industry knowledge within the room, 77.78% of people found the level to be of a good standard and assisted them in some way. Participants were encourage to comment freely on their thoughts of the day with a number of commenting that the participants found the day to be invaluable and a good indication on what can happen with consultative collaboration.
The Department has taken on a range of items to be further developed and has committed to use this group as a reference point for feedback on future developments. The ACIitC believes this is a very significant contribution to ensuring that reform activities can be implemented appropriately from 1 July this year. The ACIitC sincerely thanks providers who responded in the very tight timeframes we had available to organise this activity.
The opportunity to form this combined group may be attributed to the successful work the National Home Care Group has pursued in undertaking the National Survey on Community and Home Care Sector Technology Readiness for Aged Care Reforms and the work the CIO Forum has been progressing on systems architecture requirements. We hope to report more on these activities in the next edition of this report.
The ACIitC has a full agenda of events in 2015 including the ITAC Conference on the Gold Coast in November and we look forward to regularly updating you via this column in AAA each Technology addition.
End.
Photos to be included:
Various from 12 March My Aged Care Provider Portal User Guide Workshop (to be supplied G.Tomlins)
Further info on this article Contact Anne Livingstone 0457 837 823