Issue 94 | 13 August 2007
FOFMS will be unavailable from 7pm Wednesday 29 August 2007 until 9am Monday 3 September 2007 due to the transition of Business Services to new funding agreements. Payments due between 27 and 31 August 2007 will be run on 26 August 2007 so as not to interfere with this process. Please note that no new clients can be started on FOFMS, and DMI and Intake functionality will be unavailable for existing clients, during the shutdown. Users are advised to organise their workload around this period to ensure continuity of funding. We apologise for any inconvenience and if you have any further questions please contact the Case Based Funding Helpdesk on 1800 034 887.
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One of the Brisbane-based Sections of the newly formed Disability Program Branch is moving to new premises.
The Disability Employment Assistance Quality, Marketing and Other Programs Section will be located at Level 13, 144 Edward Street, Brisbane from 13 August 2007.
The phone numbers for the staff attached to this Section will change. The new phone numbers for the management team are:
Anthony Bartolo, Section Manager |
07 3006 4813 |
| Jen Albright, Assistant Section Manager (Quality) | 07 3006 4860 |
| Mark Heywood, Assistant Section Manager (Other Programs) | 07 3006 4829 |
Fran Cole, Assistant Section Manager (Marketing) is based in Sydney and her phone number is now 02 8255 7749.
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Due to the rapid increase in technical advances, more Australian households and businesses are dumping redundant computers in local landfills or storing them.
The growing concern for the environment has meant that various governments are placing increasing pressure on the computer industry to come up with an industry recycling scheme.
So far, the Victorian State Government has lead the way through ‘Sustainability Victoria’ which has established the ‘Byteback’ computer recycling program that currently operates one site in Melbourne. It is expected that ‘Sustainability Victoria’ will soon be calling for tenders to operate additional recycling sites.
To assist in understanding the economics of computing recycling and the potential for Business Services to participate in the industry, FaCSIA engaged Waywick Management Services to prepare an E-Recycling Scoping Report.
The report notes that some Business Services are already recycling computers and that this activity is commercially viable and provides meaningful work opportunities. The potential for the expansion of the e-recycling industry is huge.
The full report can be found on the FaCSIA website.
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Minister Scullion MP launched the Case Based Funding (CBF) Review at the NDS Employment Conference on Monday 30 July 2007.
As most of you are aware, CBF was introduced by the Australian Government in 2005 to improve employment outcomes for people with disability by linking individual support needs more closely to one of four funding levels.
The review focused on the introduction of the CBF model into disability supported employment services. It also looked at the impact CBF had on people with disability accessing supported employment, as well as families, carers and service providers. The review also aimed to identify aspects of the funding model that could be improved.
The full review and summary will also be sent out to all business service CEOs shortly. If you require any further copies please contact the CBF helpdesk on 1800 034 887 or email Helpdesk.CBF@facsia.gov.au
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To date, the audit and compliance strategy has been rolled out in five states, with approximately 72 audits completed since February 2007. In the following months it will be rolled out in South Australia, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory.
As you are probably aware, the audit and compliance strategy is a new process for both the department and the sector. This process is not expected to be the be-all and end-all. Instead, it is an opportunity for the department to determine areas of risk in administering funding, while being mindful of additional administrative procedures the process may generate for providers. We are hoping that the current process will give us a sense of where the risks are, to allow us to refine the strategy as time rolls on. We will continue to talk to the sector about their experiences with the process, to determine how we can ensure that taxpayers’ money is spent as intended, while ensuring provider requirements are not overly onerous.
This is also an excellent opportunity for Business Services to utilise the valuable resource of their FaCSIA Contract Managers for advice on matters involving the audit process, FOFMS and Case Based Funding, as well as any other general matters that may impact.
So far, the audits have given us a good broad indication of where we can improve guidelines and processes as well as identifying areas for improvement at the service delivery level. It has also been encouraging to see general good practice across the services audited to date. Some initial findings from the process include:
The strategy is still in the early days of implementation, and once we have a better idea of where the major risks are, we will re-examine and refine our current process with the sector’s assistance.
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The Client must sign a Client Consent Form before you complete and authorise their Intake Assessment. The consent information package, including the Client Consent Form, is on the Literature site in FOFMS.
The $500 Intake Fee and monthly Employment Assistance payments for new Cases are not payable until an Intake Assessment has been completed and authorised on FOFMS. Case Based Funding payments do not begin until the Intake Assessment has been authorised. FaCSIA will not backdate Intake Assessments, or make back-payments. If you do not authorise the Intake Assessment your Service risks a reduced funding flow for that Client.
If you create a Client and Case record in FOFMS and do not complete and authorise the Intake Assessment not only are your payments affected, but the total Cases and vacancies of your Service are also affected. When you create a Case record in FOFMS it is considered an active case and included in the count of your total Cases, which reduces your number of vacancies. If you do not complete and authorise an Intake Assessment you will not receive funding for the Client, but they will be occupying a place in your Business Service that could otherwise be filled and funded by another Client.
Cases that have been created but do not have an Intake Assessment completed or authorised have a status of 'Draft' in FOFMS. You should review you case list for any cases with a ‘Draft’ status and either complete and authorise an Intake Assessment or exit the record.
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The FOFMS Service Provider User Guide can now be accessed through the FOFMS Literature Portal. The Service Provider User Guide provides FOFMS users with clear instructions, help and support in FOFMS functionality. The user guide will help you to access the system, navigate, search and run queries, view the status of your agreements and agreement schedules, create and view client and case records, and generate reports on payments to your organisation.
If you require further information on FOFMS functionality or any of the content contained in the user guide please contact the FOFMS Helpdesk: 1800 020 283 or fofms@facsia.gov.au[ top ]
Please note that when DMI assessment and DMI reassessment dates are not met, FOFMS will suspend payments and exit cases in line with the DEA Programme Procedures. The following rules are automated in FOFMS:
Business Services are notified two months prior to the DMI reassessment date by an auto-generated activity in FOFMS to the nominated case worker. Business Services then have five months (two before and three after the DMI reassessment date) to complete and authorise the reassessment. Business Services should use this five-month period to manage their DMI reassessment workload to avoid peak workload periods.
It is your responsibility to monitor DMI assessment and DMI reassessment dates. If your clients have their payments suspended or their cases exited as a result of DMI assessment or DMI reassessment dates not being met, you will not be back-paid.
To self-monitor when your service’s clients are due for a DMI assessment and DMI reassessment, simply use the predefined queries that are built into FOFMS. To access the predefined queries you will need to be in the ‘Cases’ view. Then, from the ‘Queries’ drop down menu you can select either:
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SIt is important that service providers with access to FOFMS keep their personal login information secure and private as the system contains sensitive information. FOFMS access is provided to users on the understanding that they alone use it to access records on the system and they will be held personally responsible for any work conducted under their login ID. It is also best practice to change your password approximately once a month and avoid writing it down to prevent unauthorised persons from accessing the system using your login information.
It should also be noted that it is the responsibility of the service provider to notify the FOFMS Helpdesk (1800 020 283) of staff members who have left the organisation and no longer require access to FOFMS.
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