Welcome to the new format AROC Data Matters newsletter. Once again, AROC has had an phenomenally busy year as have many of our member facilities. However, structurally, it has not been an easy year for the sector – change of Government, COAG funding expiring, implementation of Activity Based Funding (ABF) etc.

On the positive side, the new format of AROC Reports, especially the Impairment specific reports have been received favourably as have the jurisdictional and impairment specific  benchmarking workshops (or quality forums) that we have run.

Next year will see many more changes, including implementation of online FIM refresher course, more impairment specific reports and hopefully a renewed focus on the ambulatory benchmarking initiative.

Till then, we hope things start to slow down for you and that you all get a well deserved break over the Christmas and New Year period and get to spend quality time with friends and family.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Frances Simmonds, AROC Director and the AROC Team.

STAFF NEWS :

Welcome Niki Panteli !

Niki has joined the AROC team as the FIM Co-ordinator taking over Julie DeClouet who has moved onto bigger and better things.Niki has extensive experience in Debt Collecting/Payroll and Administrative duties - We look forward for Niki to bring a fresh perscpective to FIM and AROC.
Should you have any FIM queries, please contact Niki on 02 42215282 or email Niki at fim@uow.edu.au

A temporary goodbye to Janet Law. Janet will be on maternity leave for the first 9 months of 2013, her third child is due early January.

Welcome Sarina Teuss !

Serina will be sitting in for Janet whilst she is on maternity leave. Sarina comes to us from the Cancer Institute NSW.

21st Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation
Medicine (AFRM 2013), (17 - 20 September 2013). AROC delivered two presentations at this conference. The presentation slides are now available on the AROC website:

AROC AFRM Presentation (2013)

AROC Update (Frances Simmonds)
AROC Intensity of Therapy Project (Jacquelin Capell )

AROC is pleased to announce that Financial Year 2013 CORE Benchmark Reports and Financial Year 2013 Outcome Targets Reports are now available for download from AROC Online Services. We welcome any feedback you might have.

These reports are based on Inpatient Pathway 3 data (i.e. sites collecting and submitting inpatient data) and are available from the AROC document repository.

NB: See the section below for how to download your report
If you have any problems accessing the AROC document repository, OR, your facility’s financial year 2013 reports are not there, OR, you have any questions about your report please direct your query to aroc@uow.edu.au

• Ambulatory Report  2012
• Stroke Impairement Specific Report 2012
• Fractured Neck of Femur Impairement Specific Report 2012
• AROC Annual Report : The State of Rehabilitation 2012
• 2012/2013 Outcomes Target Report

A link to these reports is as follows : http://ahsri.uow.edu.au/aroc/annualreports/index.html

AROC is pleased to announce our new online tutorial.

Interpreting AROC Results

This tutorial explains how to interpret the range of graphs presented in the AROC reports using the stroke specific impairment report as an example.

To download your facility’s AROC reports please go to the AROC website and select the link “Log in to AOS” under the heading AROC ONLINE SERVICES. After logging into AOS click on the button “AROC Reports” and log into the AROC document repository. Click on “AROC Documents” and then click on your facility name to see all your reports… for more details there is also a short video tutorial on how to download AROC reports available from the AROC website.

PLEASE NOTE: If this is the first time you have accessed the AROC document repository you will need to use the original password that was issued to you by AROC (and then change this to match your AOS password).

We are fast approaching another data submission deadline…   the table below gives data submission deadlines for the V4 AROC dataset and AROC reporting periods. The V4 AROC dataset incorporates inpatient, ambulatory and impairment specific data items.

Important notice for data submissions in an AROC reporting period…
Once again, there will be NO extension of deadlines for AROC Data Submission in an AROC reporting period. Data on all episodes in an AROC reporting period need to be entered into AROC Online Services Online Data Entry System (AOS-ODES), OR, submitted via extract to AROC by the data submission deadline – corrections to this data can be made up to the data corrections deadline. Please be aware that no data will be accepted into the AROC reporting period after the data corrections deadline has past – all data received after this date will be used in the next AROC reporting period.

What does this mean for your facility?
Data for the next AROC reporting period (Calendar Year 2013 - CY13) MUST be submitted to AROC by January 31, 2014. A further two weeks will be allowed for corrections to be made to your data. The CY13 reporting data will be closed (i.e. no more data will be able to be included) at midnight 14 February with report production commencing 15 February. To ensure complete data at your facility you should:
1.  Ensure all staff at your facility with any involvement in the AROC data collection process are aware of this requirement
2.  Ensure your data entry is kept up to date (if sending extracts we recommend submitting monthly)
3.  Ensure your facility has submitted your data by January 31 (and if corrections are required, resubmitted by February 14)
4.  If your facility’s data entry is not up to date, no matter where your facility is up to ensure you submit all the data you have available on January 31 and then resubmit again on February 14 with any further episodes you have been able to enter.

Due to a glitch with uploading old V3 data into the V4 reporting database the field Team Plan was missed from many episodes. This resulted in ACHS Clinical Indicator 3 being under reported in the Financial Year 2013 CORE reports for Australian facilities (New Zealand facilities were not affected). This has now been fixed. The corrected benchmark group (public and private) data and Australian national data follow. Our apologies for this error.

FIM TRAINING UPDATE
AROC has conducted 72 FIM and WeeFIM workshops and 4 FAM workshops so far this year, with a further 10 FIM workshops to be conducted before the end of the year.
Thank you to our hard working Master Trainers who have gone above and beyond this year to deliver these training sessions, with a special mention to Monique Berger and Wendy Maxwell who travelled the many miles to train our friends in Western Australia.
We extend a warm welcome to our new FIM users in Western Australia and elsewhere, if you need assistance please don’t hesitate to contact us.

PORPOSED UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
AROC hosted workshops for this year are coming to a close and we are currently planning for next year. The proposed dates for next year are shown below and once confirmed will be placed on our website.

The table below gives the mandated commonwealth reporting days and dates (as advised to AROC by the health funds), as well as the dates that AROC will run (and re-run) these extracts for those facilities using AOS for data entry. Please make a note of the dates at the end of this article.

To obtain an AROC Online Services (AOS) log-in and password please provide the following information via email to AROC  (aroc@uow.eu.au)
        Your name:
        Facility Role:
        Facility Name:
        Telephone:
        Email:
Your AOS account details will be supplied by return email.