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Archived 13 August 2003

Post Acute Care Program Overview

The Post Acute Care (PAC) Program was introduced in Victoria in 1996-97 to improve the transition from hospital to the community. It provides individually tailored packages of health and community care services to patients needing additional support, to assist them to recuperate following discharge from an acute public hospital. It is a joint initiative of the Acute Health and Aged, Community and Mental Health Divisions of the Department of Human Services and has an operating budget of $18.0 million in 2002-03.

There are 18 funded PAC Services operating in both metropolitan and rural areas and the Program has statewide coverage. Services include home nursing, personal care, childcare, allied health services and home help. During 2000-01, the PAC Program was expanded to include emergency department patients, to prevent their admission to hospital, and patients discharged from sub-acute services. The Program acts to augment the current service system, not substitute for existing services.

The objectives of the Program are:

• to provide additional post acute care services for individuals who require them;
• to improve care planning for patients discharged from hospital;
• to improve the links between hospitals and other health and community care providers;

To receive additional post acute care services through the PAC program, clients must:

• be a patient of a public hospital or sub-acute service. This includes patients who have presented to the Emergency Department;
• be assessed as requiring additional services to assist with recuperation or transition to continuing care following a hospital episode (this does not include patients discharged from a psychiatric episode of care but does include patients discharged from a "same day" episode of care);
• consent to receive additional post acute care services under the PAC program;
• agree to the forwarding of individual de-identified client level data to the Department for the purposes of program monitoring and evaluation.

Arrangements for the funding of PAC services delivered to Department of Veteran's Affairs clients continue to operate in 2002-03. Details are available from the Continuity Unit.

For more information about the PAC Program in 2002-2003 see Public Hospitals Policy and Funding Guidelines 2002-2003– Section A 3.2.2 and Section B 2.12 – Post Acute Care.

In addition to the 18 individual PAC Services, several more general initiatives have been funded under the PAC Program. These are:

Care Planning Development

In 1997-1998 PAC Projects were invited to submit for funding to undertake Care Planning Development. This was in response to a recognition by the Department of Human Services that discharge planning was an area which required further attention, commitment and development by the acute health sector. Five Care Planning Development projects were funded to develop care planning processes and systems, with a focus on discharge planning. All have now been completed.

For more information see Care Planning Development Projects.

Health Outcomes and Cost Benefit Study

A consultancy to examine health outcomes and cost benefits in relation to the PAC program was completed in April 2001. The study aimed to analyse the short and medium term clinical outcomes for patients who receive post acute care services through PAC, compared to those who receive post acute care through existing arrangements, and to conduct a cost benefit analysis of the PAC Program compared to post acute care offered through existing arrangements. The study employed a randomised controlled trial methodology.

The findings of the study included:

• That the PAC Services have a statistically significant influence on the health related quality of life of their clients;
• That this influence is due in part to the ability of the PAC coordinators to better structure the community services received by their clients and in part to the structure of the Program itself, with its emphasis on independent brokerage funds; and
• That the service reduces the rate of unplanned readmissions to hospital in the six-month period after discharge for patients managed by the Program.

For more information see the final reports of the Health Outcomes and Cost Benefit Study:

Development of a Resource Allocation Model

A new resource allocation model has been developed for the PAC Program to provide an equitable basis for the distribution of PAC Program funding. It was implemented from December 2000.

For more information see Resource Allocation Model Project

State Government Victoria

Updated 22 October 2002

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