participation. This needs to be carefully communicated and strategies for minimising the perceived burden for RACFs. Response The QI programme is voluntary. The resources and QI application in the My Aged Care Provider Portal are free to use and available to all residential aged care providers. It is expected that the initial burden of implementing the measures will be reduced as providers become more familiar with the detail of the measures and the relevant processes, and streamline them into their existing systems. It is further anticipated that the quality improvements that will result from implementation of the programme will ultimately reduce the costs of providing care. It is expected that analysis of the data, once a data set is achieved, will enable more sophisticated reports to be available to providers. Similarly, changes in quality at the system level will only be evident once data is available for analysis. Conclusion Some of the longer term issues identified during the pilot have been deferred for detailed discussion with the QIRG. These outstanding issues, and any emerging issues, will be resolved through consultation and co-design with the sector and experts. As mentioned earlier in this document users of the QI programme will also be able to contribute to discussions about the programme through a QI User Group that will be established in coming months to provide advice on programme matters from the user perspective and to facilitate the development of a community of practice. The Department will distribute an invitation for interest to participants later this year. The Department would again like to thank the 2015 residential care pilot participants that volunteered their time and resources to test the collection and reporting of the three initial QIs and provided feedback on their experiences in the pilot.
participation. This needs to be carefully communicated and strategies for minimising the perceived burden for RACFs. Response The QI programme is voluntary. The resources and QI application in the My Aged Care Provider Portal are free to use and available to all residential aged care providers. It is expected that the initial burden of implementing the measures will be reduced as providers become more familiar with the detail of the measures and the relevant processes, and streamline them into their existing systems. It is further anticipated that the quality improvements that will result from implementation of the programme will ultimately reduce the costs of providing care. It is expected that analysis of the data, once a data set is achieved, will enable more sophisticated reports to be available to providers. Similarly, changes in quality at the system level will only be evident once data is available for analysis. Conclusion Some of the longer term issues identified during the pilot have been deferred for detailed discussion with the QIRG. These outstanding issues, and any emerging issues, will be resolved through consultation and co-design with the sector and experts. As mentioned earlier in this document users of the QI programme will also be able to contribute to discussions about the programme through a QI User Group that will be established in coming months to provide advice on programme matters from the user perspective and to facilitate the development of a community of practice. The Department will distribute an invitation for interest to participants later this year. The Department would again like to thank the 2015 residential care pilot participants that volunteered their time and resources to test the collection and reporting of the three initial QIs and provided feedback on their experiences in the pilot.