Silver Chain invests for change

Health and community care organisation Silver Chain’s 2014-15 surplus has slipped following increased investment in new client offerings and service delivery methods.

Silver Chain, which is ranked eighth on BNiQ’s list of not-for-profit organisations, recorded a surplus of $3.4 million in 2014-15, compared with $12.3 million in 2013-14.

Silver Chain chief financial officer David Ligovich said the modest surplus had been achieved off the back of increased revenue (up 9 per cent to $246.6 million) and increased expenditure (up 13 per cent to $253.8 million).

He said more than half of Silver Chain’s increased revenue of $20.7 million came from expansions into new locations, including the Pilbara, as well as Mackay in Queensland, and into Sydney.

Silver Chain’s increased expenditure was in large part due to responding to strategic review findings that aligned with ongoing industry reforms aimed at providing aged care customers with more choice.

Silver Chain chair Anne Skipper has previously spoken to Business News about how health and aged care providers were adapting to focus on consumer directed care.

“I think the two things that are going to drive the success of consumer-directed care are the ability of an organisation to be flexible and agile to the needs of consumers, and also to manage complex health care needs,” she said in August.

Mr Ligovich said the organisation's increased spending during the 2014-15 financial year also included what he referred to as 'community dividends', or new non-funded services for clients.

He said the not-for-profit organisation had also incurred a number of one-off costs as part of its investment in staff, training, technology, equipment and premises to allow it to fulfil its exclusive ‘home hospital’ service contract to Royal Perth Hospital and Fiona Stanley Hospital.

Last month, Telstra struck an agreement with Silver Chain to buy its EOS Technologies subsidiary, which provides client and resource management solutions for health, aged and community care, with an aim to integrate the target’s ComCare management system into its HealthConnex business.