Data matching is essential to the effectiveness of the aged care reforms.  It ensures that care facilities are paid their pensioner supplement entitlement by DH&FS.

With the introduction of income tested fees from 1 March 1998, DVA and Centrelink will provide DH&FS with relevant income details for persons entering aged care facilities from that date.

Data matching is the mechanism by which residents in aged care are identified as pensioners or self-funded retirees and where applicable have their income details transferred to DH&FS.

From 1 March 1998, data matching will be transmitted daily using the electronic SNI link between the 3 agencies.

The data matching process sorts out which aged care residents are DVA pensioners, which are social security pensioners and which are non-pensioners or self-funded retirees.

Basically the data matching process operates as follows:

• DH&FS download from their database, and transmit the data, identifying all current aged care residents;
• the data is sent to DVA who identifies DVA income support pensioner and DVA self-funded retirees matches;    More [5]
• for those post 28 February 1998 residents identified as being DVA pensioners, or self funded retirees who receive disability pension and have qualifying service, an income figure is included on the data file;
• the data file is then sent to Centrelink who identify their pensioners and the remaining self-funded retirees and where appropriate include an income figure where there has been a change since the last transmission;
• the data is then transmitted to DH&FS who use the income figures on the file to calculate the aged care fees for each resident.
• DH&FS then advise the proprietor of the aged care facility how much to charge the resident.
• those pensioners identified by Centrelink as being unmatched DVA pensioners are referred back to DVA in the next transmission.  This aligns the DVA and DH&FS databases to ensure future matches;

A small number of income support pensioners are not identified by the data matching process due to problems with data accuracy.

Centrelink will initially investigate these cases and refer any non-matched DVA income support pensioners to DVA State Offices where the reason for the failure to match will be established and steps will be taken to ensure the data in error (usually name or DOB) on either DVA or DH&FS's database is corrected.  Commonly it is the DH&FS data that is in error because DVA client identification procedures are more stringent.

Detailed instructions for cleaning up unmatched DVA income support pensioners were circulated to State Offices in October 1997 and again on 28 January 1998.

The income figure recorded on the data matching file for each person matched, is the person's excess income.  That is the assessed income of the person, less the applicable income free area.  For a member of a couple, that means the excess income of the individual.

Subtraction of the free area is applied before recording the income figure on the data to be transmitted.

Privacy provisions require that only an income total is advised to DH&FS and no breakdown of that income total is included.

The data matching process also performs a number of other important functions.  These are:

• It enables Centrelink and DVA to identify pensioners requiring rent assistance cancellation after 1 October 1997.
• It identifies certain categories of residents who are exempt from the DH&FS income test.  These include persons with dependent children, persons in respite care and persons who have opted out of income testing for example and residents admitted prior to 1 March 1998.
• It enables DVA to identify ex-prisoners of war and their level of care so that DVA can continue the current practice of paying the daily fees of these people where they receive high levels of care.
• It enables DVA to identify certain categories of resident for whom DVA  will take financial responsibility for paying the Commonwealth subsidy associated with their care.
• It enables DVA and Centrelink to identify the homeownership status of residents so DH&FS can check, for Audit purposes whether they are concessional or assisted residents.