How to Create a Home Care Package Budget

This information is for Australian Customers who provide HCP funded services.

Please always refer to the latest updates on the Department of Health website. Please confirm your organisation's eligibility when reviewing AlayaCare's Zendesk articles prior to making any updates to the configuration in your Production environment.

If you require further assistance, please contact the AlayaCare Cloud Support Team.

If the recipient has already taken leave from their package, please review How to Back Date a Client Status to Capture Opening Leave Balances before proceeding.

1. Navigate to Client Profile > Accounting > Budgets.

2. Select + Add Budget, then choose the type of budget.

3. In the resulting dialogue, enter the following budget details:

• Budget type
• Budget name
• Start date
• End date
• Case manager: this will default to the name of the employee creating but can be changed if required.
• HCP Funder
• HCP subsidy level

Items marked with an * are required. Click Save once complete. 

Income

Items added on the left side of the budget contribute to the overall available funds in the client's home care package. 

Sources

Only income codes of the type Subsidy or ITF can be added to this section of the budget. For HCP-funded income items, you can only select the HCP funder chosen when creating the budget. 

Adding Subsidy

1. Click + Source and enter a Funder.

2. Select the Income Code that corresponds with the subsidy level of the client.

3. Fill in the Income Name.

4. Click Save.

Adding Income Tested Fee

1. Click + Source.

2. Fill in the fields as shown below. All fields marked with * are mandatory.

3. Select the ITF Income Code and enter the rate.

4. Check the Link to HCP Funder checkbox. Note: If this checkbox is not selected then no invoice will be generated for the ITF income item.

5. Click Save.

Once the ITF income item has been saved on the budget, the income rate for the linked subsidy will be reduced by the amount of the ITF so that the total daily income is equal to the daily subsidy rate for the client's package level.

Supplements

Only income codes with the type supplement can be added to this section of the budget. For HCP-funded income items, you can only use the HCP funder selected when creating the budget.

Adding Supplements

1. Click + Supplement.

2. Select the HCP funder.

3. Select the Income Code, Income Rate that corresponds with the correct supplement for the client. Be sure to enter an Income Name.

4. Click Save.

           

Once the supplement has been saved on the budget, an icon will indicate whether this supplement is a primary supplement or not. This is driven by the configuration of the income code in accounting settings. 

Fees and Charges

Only income codes with the type Fees and Charges or Basic Daily Fee can be added to this section of the budget.

Adding Basic Daily Fee

1. Click + Fees or Charges.

2. Select the client individual funder and select the applicable Billing Contact.

3. Select the Income Code that corresponds with the correct basic daily fee for the client and adjust the income rate as required.

4. Check the Link to HCP Funder checkbox. Note: If this checkbox is not selected then no invoice will be generated for the basic daily fee income item.

5. Click Save. Refer to the sample below for how you may fill out this field. 

Once the income item has been saved on the budget, an icon will indicate whether this will be charged when the client is on-hold or not. This is driven by the configuration of the income code in accounting settings. 

Adding Opening Balances

Any Income Code with the unit of total is billed on the start date of the budget. Ensure that your budget start date falls in a claim period that has not been generated yet.  

1. Click + Fees or Charges.

2. Select the client individual funder and select the applicable Billing Contact. It is recommended that a generic shared billing contact called Opening Balances is created and linked to all HCP clients.

3. Select the Income Code that corresponds with the opening balance bucket you're adding and adjust the income rate as required by selecting Override Income Rate and entering the balance amount.

4. Check the Not claimable checkbox. Note: If this checkbox is not selected, the income item will be treated as a regular client contribution and will affect the calculation of the claim total. 

5. Check the Link to HCP Funder checkbox. Note: If this checkbox is not selected, no invoice item will be generated for the income item and it will not appear as a line item on the HCP Statement.

Adding Other Fees and Charges

This step is only required if the client does not have any other income items funded by a client individual funder, on any budget in their sequence.

When reconciling a negative client account balance, to invoice the client or their billing contact, there must be an income item previously invoiced to this funder on a published budget. 

1. Click + Fees or Charges.

2. Select the client individual funder and select a Billing Contact. It is recommended that the generic Opening Balances shared contact is used.

3. Select the Income Code Overspend Placeholder.

4. Check the Link to HCP Funder checkbox. If this checkbox is not selected then no invoice will be generated for this income item.

5. Click Save.

Expenses

The available funders on the expense side are limited to the chosen funders on the income side of the budget. Any item added to the expense side of the budget must be linked to the HCP funder in order to use the home care package budget funds to pay for the expense.

Services

A separate service is created for each type of support the client wishes to receive as well as when there is a different rate charged for the time of day/day of the week that a visit may occur.

For example, this may result in four different services being created if:

• Personal Care on a weekday from 8am – 5pm is $50 per hour.
• Personal Care on a weekday from 5pm – 8am is $60 per hour.
• Personal Care on a Saturday is $80 per hour.
• Personal Care on a Sunday is $90 per hour.

1. Click +Add Service and enter a service name. If the recipient wishes to receive the same service at different times and these attract different bill rates, it is recommended that the time of day/day of the week is reflected in the service name to facilitate scheduling. 

2. Select the Service Code applicable to the service.

3. Ensure the service is funded by the HCP funder. If the funder of the service is not the HCP funder, any visits scheduled against this service will not be paid for by the package funds and will instead create a sales transaction.

4. Select the applicable Bill Code Rate. This is only applicable if time-specific bill rates are being used. 

5. Optional: If the service is going to be provided by an external provider you can enter an external service override bill rate and assign the service provider as the primary employee for the service.

6. Select the Start Date and projected End Date of the service. Note: The dates will default to the date range of the budget, the overlap between the service dates and the budget dates is used to calculate the forecasted total expense for delivering this service.

7. Enter the Quantity and Frequency for the service.

8. Click Save.

Capital and Consumable Items

If the client wishes to use a portion of their home care package funds to pay for capital and consumable items (e.g. mobility equipment, continence aids), a specific service must be created. 

1. Refer to the screenshot above - ceate a service using the service code HCP Capital and Consumables. The bill rate for this service must be $0.00/hour.

2. Set the Quantity and Frequency as 1 hour per week.

3. Click Save.

To charge the recipient's package for any capital or consumable items, please follow the steps outlined in How to Manage Capital and Consumables.

Fees and Premiums

Although they are represented as a separate section on the budget, when published, the budget will create any expense items added under these sections as a client billing premium on the client's profile unless they are marked as a placeholder. 

Any item that is a confirmed recurring charge against a recipient's home care package should be entered under this section of the budget. This is where the care management and package management fees are entered.

Adding Equipment and Supply Items

If the client wishes to plan for a future expense item, then a placeholder billing premium must be added to the budget. 

1. Click + Fee, or + Premium and enter the name of the item that the client plans to purchase.

2. Select the Billing Premium that corresponds with the item.

3. Select the HCP funder.

4. Select the Start Date and End Date for the premium. If the purchase is a one-time purchase then set these dates as the same.

5. Check the Override Quantity and Rate checkbox and update the quantity and custom rate to reflect the amount of the item that the client plans to purchase.

6. Select the frequency.

9. Check the Placeholder checkbox. Note: If this checkbox is not selected then a billing premium will be created when the budget is published and the client's package will be charged for the item.

10. Note that all fields marked with an asterisk are required. Click Save.

Click on the screenshots below for an enlarged view.

Publishing a Budget

Once all of the income and expense items have been added to the budget and agreed upon with the client, click Publish. Once a budget is published, it cannot be changed.