Aged care technology companies Hayylo and Umps have partnered to integrate their offerings and enable providers to adapt to home aged care reforms. 

WHAT IT'S ABOUT

The integration will combine Hayylo's care service platform with Umps Link, a smart home and personal alarm technology currently being used by around 300,000 Australians. 

Through this, care insights generated through the Umps Link are made available on the Hayylo platform. Hayylo users can also engage clients directly through the Umps Link Hub without having to rely on people to answer calls or check an SMS.

WHY IT MATTERS

According to the companies' joint statement, their integrated solution will help prepare aged care providers to implement upcoming home aged care reforms.

"Our partnership with Hayylo means that Hayylo and Umps customers will be able to build efficient workflows on top of our real-time insights. Ultimately, this will lead to better care outcomes and less waste," said Umps CEO Adam Jahnke. 

THE LARGER TREND

By July 2023, the Australian government will start implementing a new aged care programme and introduce a new funding model for care at home called Support at Home. This is in line with the recommendations set by the Royal Commission on Aged Care Quality and Safety. The new programme will replace the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, Home Care Packages Programme, and the Short Term Restorative Care Programme as part of the reforms.

Early this year, the Department of Health and Aged Care released an overview of its proposed design for the Support at Home programme. Initial feedback from senior Australians and service providers found this proposed model  "too inflexible."

Meanwhile, the federal government has recently earmarked A$312.6 million (around $200 million) to improve the ICT systems in the aged care sector over the next four years as part of its October 2022-2023 budget. This comes after a nationwide survey published in July found a dearth of critical digital system implementations across the residential aged care sector. 

In other related news, Hayylo and Telstra Health started offering an integrated communications solution that allows patients, families and care teams to self-service information and reduces the time spent on manual communications.