What is Consumer-Directed Care?
Published: 28 August 2022
Published: 28 August 2022
Consumer-directed care (or CDC) is a ‘self-directed’ healthcare model in which the client is afforded flexibility and choice in the delivery of their care (My Aged Care 2021).
Under the CDC model, consumers are empowered to choose the type of supports they would like to receive, who delivers these supports, and when and where they are delivered - care decisions that would historically be made by the care team rather than the client (My Aged Care 2021; Aged Care Guide 2020).
All aged care Home Care Packages (HCP) in Australia must be based on a consumer-directed care model, fulfilling Standard 1 of the Aged Care Quality Standards: Consumer Dignity and Choice (Aged Care Guide 2020).
Consumer-directed care and person-centred care are concepts both underpinned by a similar history and philosophy, however, they are not the same (VIC DoH 2014).
Person-centred care (PCC) is a model of care where individuals are seen as active participants and partners in healthcare, supplanting the outdated view of patients as passive care recipients (Levett-Jones 2019).
Consumer-directed care takes this concept a step further by ‘maximising the opportunity of choice’ (VIC DoH 2014) and promoting the care recipient from a participant or partner, to director and chief decision-maker.
Furthermore, from 2017, HCP funding has been allocated directly to the consumer, rather than being given to providers (Aged Care Guide 2020).
In CDC, the care team’s role is to help identify and provide any assistance needed to enable the client to make their own decisions about their care. This includes an emphasis on improving the health literacy of the consumer.
The care team and clinicians may contribute their professional expertise or recommendations, however, the final say ultimately lies with the client.
Under CDC, it’s understood that the care recipient also has the right to accept and delegate as much, or as little, of their care decisions as they wish (Aged Care Guide 2020).
Consumer-directed care is based on the following six principles:
(Aged Care Guide 2020; COTA 2019)
In Australia, CDC is currently available for all Home Care Packages (HCP). A consumer-directed home care package aims to do the following:
(Aged Care Guide 2020)
At the time of writing, the CDC care model has only been mandated for Home Care Packages in Australia. The government has indicated plans to introduce a CDC model into residential care settings for the future, however, some settings are cautious to embrace the change, citing a lack of evidence for efficacy (Larter Consulting 2020).
There is currently no specific date for residential aged care providers to implement consumer-directed care (Aged Care Guide 2020).
Question 1 of 3
True or false: Consumer-directed care is the same as person-centred care.