Consultation Paper on the Pricing Framework for Australian Support at Home Aged Care Services 2026–27
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Consultation questions
| Number | Question |
|---|---|
| 1 | Do the pricing principles provide adequate guidance for IHACPA’s development of pricing advice? If not, what changes do you recommend? |
| 2 | Are there specific service types, locations and population groups that IHACPA should focus on in future cost collections? |
| 3 | How can IHACPA better support providers to participate in its cost collections to continue to improve their representativeness? |
| 4 | What factors should IHACPA take into account when considering pricing adjustments for services provided in rural and remote areas? |
| 5 | What factors should IHACPA take into account when considering pricing adjustments for services provided for people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and other people with special needs? |
| 6 | What provider or participant-related factors should IHACPA take into account when considering data requirements and the pricing approach for the transition of the CHSP to the Support at Home program? |
| 7 | What future priorities should IHACPA consider when developing pricing advice for the Support at Home service list? |
Abbreviations
| Abbreviations | Full term |
|---|---|
| Aged Care Act | Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth) |
| ACFR | Aged Care Financial Report |
| AEST | Australian Eastern Standard Time |
| CHSP | Commonwealth Home Support Programme |
| DVA | Department of Veterans’ Affairs |
| Consultation paper | Consultation Paper on the Pricing Framework for Australian Support at Home Aged Care Services 2026–27 |
| Commission | Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission |
| Department | Department of Health, Disability and Ageing |
| Government | Australian Government |
| HCP | Home Care Packages Program |
| IHACPA | Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority |
| Pricing framework | Pricing Framework for Australian Support at Home Aged Care Services |
| Minister | Australian Government Minister for Health and Ageing |
| NDIS | National Disability Insurance Scheme |
| NHR Act | National Health Reform Act 2011 (Cth) |
| QFR | Quarterly Financial Report |
| Royal Commission | Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety |
| SAHCC | Support at Home Cost Collection |
| SAHCS | Support at Home Costing Study |
| SAHLDC | Support at Home Live Data Collection |
| STRC | Short-Term Restorative Care Programme |
1. Introduction
1.1 About IHACPA
The Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority (IHACPA) is an independent government agency established under the National Health Reform Act 2011 (Cth) (NHR Act). IHACPA assists the Australian Government by providing evidence-based pricing and costing advice to inform government policy and funding decisions in aged care.
Under the NHR Act, we provide advice on annual aged care pricing and costing matters to the Minister for Health and Ageing, including:
- in relation to methods for calculating amounts of subsidies to be paid for aged care services
- conducting, or arranging for the conduct of, the collection and review of data, costing and other studies, and consultations for the purpose of providing aged care pricing and costing advice.
IHACPA’s vision is for all Australians to have fair access to transparent, sustainable and high-quality health and aged care services. We use a consultative and data-driven approach to advise on and set fair pricing in the Australian health and aged care sectors, driving better outcomes.
We deliver our annual program of work through transparent consultation and collaboration with the Australian Government and state and territory governments; our advisory committees; in home aged care participants and their families, carers and representatives; in-home aged care providers; other key stakeholders; and the public.
For further information about IHACPA, please visit our website at ihacpa.gov.au.
1.2 The Support at Home program
In response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, the Aged Care Bill 2024 was introduced and passed by Parliament on 25 November 2024. The Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth) (Aged Care Act) is in effect from 1 November 2025.
The Aged Care Act includes reforms to in-home aged care and transitions the existing Short-Term Restorative Care (STRC) Programme, Home Care Packages (HCP) Program, and Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) into a single in-home aged care program called the Support at Home program.
The Support at Home program will help older people live independently at home, or a location of their choosing, for longer. It will fund in-home aged care services, based on the actual cost of delivering high quality care and services, through government subsidies for a range of short term and ongoing in-home aged care services and supports.
The Support at Home service list specifies the range of government funded services participants can access under the Support at Home program. The Support at Home service list is available on the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website.
The Support at Home program will be delivered in 2 stages, to minimise disruption and ensure continuity of care for older people:
- From 1 November 2025, the HCP and STRC programs will transition to the Support at Home program
- No earlier than 1 July 2027, the CHSP will transition to the Support at Home program.
On 12 December 2024, the government announced that price caps on services under the Support at Home program will begin from 1 July 2026. Until then, in-home aged care providers will continue to set their own prices for Support at Home services.
Further information regarding the Support at Home program is available on the department’s website.
1.3 About this consultation paper
We conduct annual public consultation to ensure our pricing methodology is informed by a broad range of stakeholders across the in-home aged care sector.
The Consultation Paper on the Pricing Framework for Australian Support at Home Aged Care Services 2026–27 allows us to hear from the in-home aged care sector and enables your views to inform the development of the Pricing Framework for Australian Support at Home Aged Care Services 2026–27 and the Support at Home Pricing Advice 2026–27.
The pricing framework is developed annually and outlines the principles, scope and methodology IHACPA uses in developing pricing advice for the Support at Home service list. The pricing framework supports transparency and accountability for in-home aged care pricing by making the decisions and pricing principles we use publicly available.
Have your say
Submissions close at 5pm AEST on Friday 18 July 2025.
How to make a submission:
- complete an online submission form
- download an online submission form and email your completed form to submissions.ihacpa@ihacpa.gov.au
- mail your completed form to: PO Box 483 Darlinghurst NSW 1300
Enquiries
Enquiries related to this consultation process should be emailed to submissions.ihacpa@ihacpa.gov.au.
All submissions will be published on the IHACPA website, except where respondents have requested their submission be kept confidential due to commercial or other reasons.
Supporting documents
This consultation paper builds on previous work in IHACPA’s work program and should be read in conjunction with the following documents:
- Consultation Paper on the Pricing approach for the Support at Home service list 2025–26
- Pricing Framework for Australian Support at Home Aged Care services 2025–26
- Pricing Framework for Australian Support at Home Aged Care services 2025–26 Consultation Report
- Support at Home Pricing Advice 2025–26.
1.4 IHACPA’s pricing advice development process
The Minister has requested pricing advice from IHACPA for services on the Support at Home service list.
Our pricing advice will include:
- unit prices for each service on the Support at Home service list
- for each service, unit prices differentiated by time of delivery (during normal working hours and outside normal working hours) and day of delivery (weekdays, Saturdays, Sundays or public holidays).
Informed by the advice and recommendations from IHACPA, the government is responsible for determining the prices for in-home aged care services. The government is also responsible for the timing of announcements for prices for services on the Support at Home service list.
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | IHACPA conducts annual public consultation on the Pricing Approach for the Support at Home service list |
| 2 | IHACPA provides pricing advice for the Support at Home service list to the Australian Government |
| 3 | Australian Government determines and announces the prices for services on the Support at Home service list |
| 4 | IHACPA publishes the Pricing Framework for Australian Support at Home Aged Care Services |
The role of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
The department is the aged care system operator and retains responsibility for aged care subsidies, supplements and grants, policy setting, broader aged care funding, and system management. These responsibilities are outside the scope of IHACPA’s pricing and costing advice.
The department is responsible for overall Support at Home policy and funding, including the elements shown below.
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing responsibilities:
- Prices for items on the Assistive Technology and Home Modifications Service List, noting the prescription of items provided by allied health professionals will be aligned to the allied health pricing on the Support at Home service list
- Prices for nutrition items
- Prices for consumable items
- Prices for indirect transport
- Participant co-contributions
- Amounts for thin market grants and/or other supplementary grants for providers.
Although the above elements of the Support at Home program are out-of-scope for IHACPA’s pricing and costing advice, we will reflect any feedback from the sector on these areas in our pricing framework and consultation report. In addition, we work closely with the department to reflect the impact of any policy changes on our development of pricing advice. Stakeholder feedback received through our public consultation process is also provided to the department to help inform decision making.
For more information on the department’s role in aged care, visit the department’s website.
The role of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission
The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission is the national regulator of government-funded aged care services and responsible for a range of aged care functions outside the scope of IHACPA’s pricing and costing advice. The Commission retains responsibility for the functions outlined below.
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission responsibilities:
- Approval of providers to deliver aged care services
- Monitoring providers' compliance with the Aged Care Quality Standards and other obligations
- Resolving complaints about aged care services
- Undertaking compliance and enforcement actions.
Further information about the Commission’s role in aged care is available on its website.
2. Pricing principles
The Support at Home program is intended to help older people live independently at home, or a location of their choosing, for longer, by funding in-home aged care services based on the actual cost of delivering high quality care and services.
IHACPA considers a range of policy objectives when developing pricing advice for the Support at Home service list, with a commitment to an evidence-based and data-driven methodology. Our pricing principles provide part of the overarching framework to guide our approach to the development of pricing advice.
The Consultation Paper on the Pricing approach for the Support at Home service list 2025–26 proposed an initial set of pricing principles. In response to this consultation process, stakeholders were generally supportive of the proposed pricing principles but suggested incorporating refinements relating to quality care, evidence-based interventions, pricing equity and promoting the sustainability of the in-home aged care sector.
The pricing principles in the table below incorporate the following refinements on the basis of stakeholder feedback:
- The Quality care and services principle now includes a reference to evidence-based care and services
- The Pricing equity principle has been updated to incorporate a reference to thin markets
- The Efficiency principle has been revised for clarification and to reflect stakeholder feedback around sustainability
- A standalone Sustainability principle has been developed.
We will continue to use the pricing principles to inform its decision making and ensure they support ongoing improvements in the efficiency and accessibility of in-home aged care services. We regularly consult with stakeholders to refine and develop the pricing principles over time. This includes consideration of any required amendments to the pricing principles in light of any regulatory reform, as well as the implementation of the Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth).
The pricing principles:
| Access to services | Pricing should support timely and equitable access for those assessed as needing in-home aged care services. |
| Quality care and services | Pricing should support the delivery of evidence-based care and services that are person-centred, culturally appropriate and meet the Aged Care Quality Standards. |
| Pricing equity | Prices should be fair and equitable and account for cost variations faced by some providers in delivering care and services, including in thin markets. |
| Evidence-based | The development of pricing advice should be based on the best available information. |
| Transparency | All steps in the development of pricing advice for in-home aged care services should be clear and transparent. |
| Efficiency | Prices should promote efficiency in the delivery of in-home aged care services over time and optimise the value of the public investment in the aged care sector. |
| Sustainability | Pricing should consider the sustainability of the in-home aged care sector now and into the future. |
| Administrative efficiency | Pricing arrangements should promote effective and efficient processes and should not unduly increase the administrative burden on in-home aged care providers. |
| Minimising undesirable and inadvertent consequences | Pricing should minimise susceptibility to gaming, inappropriate rewards and perverse incentives. |
| Innovation | Pricing arrangements should respond in a timely way to the introduction of evidence based, effective new technologies and support innovations that improve participant outcomes and service efficiency. |
Consultation question
- Do the pricing principles provide adequate guidance for IHACPA’s development of pricing advice? If not, what changes do you recommend?
3. Support at Home data collections
3.1 Activity and cost data sources
Using data as part of our approach to developing pricing advice is essential. This involves undertaking annual cost collections to gain a detailed understanding of the resources and costs involved in delivering in-home aged care services.
Annual cost collections allow IHACPA’s pricing advice to reflect contemporary cost structures and changes in costs and care delivery models over time, in accordance with the Australian Government’s program and policy setting for Support at Home.
To ensure our pricing advice is reflective of the breadth of service providers and variation in participant requirements, a representative sample of aged care providers is required.
We rely on a number of data sources to complete our cost collections, which cover 3 key areas:
- the cost of resources to deliver in-home aged care services
- the types of services delivered to participants utilising in-home aged care services
- administrative information about participants and service providers.
3.2 Activity and financial data
IHACPA uses activity and financial data to inform the development of unit prices for the Support at Home service list. This includes using activity and financial data related to in-home aged care labour costs and hours reported by approved providers through the Aged Care Financial Report (ACFR) and the Quarterly Financial Report (QFR).
3.3 IHACPA’s costing studies and cost collections
IHACPA also collects activity and cost data by undertaking annual cost collections. This data is used to supplement ACFR and QFR data in the development of our pricing advice for in-home aged care services.
In 2023, we undertook the first Support at Home Costing Study (SAHCS). The SAHCS 2023 helped provide advice on the type and method of data collection for the in-home aged care sector. The Support at Home Cost Collection (SAHCC) 2024 built upon the findings of the SAHCS 2023 and sampled cohorts who were under-represented in the SAHCS 2023.
The Consultation Paper on the Pricing approach for the Support at Home service list 2025–26 sought feedback from stakeholders on ways to improve the representativeness of and participation in our cost collections.
Stakeholders recommended adopting a more nuanced cost collection approach that better considers participant-related complexity and condition-specific care requirements, geographic barriers, administrative and regulatory burden, and workforce factors. Stakeholders also recommended consulting with the sector to develop costing standards and support for smaller providers to improve representativeness and reduce barriers to participation in future cost collections.
In 2025, IHACPA is undertaking the Support at Home Live Data Collection (SAHLDC). The SAHLDC 2025 aims to collect cost and activity data from Home Care Packages and Short-Term Restorative Care Programme provider outlets. These data collections will be conducted over a set period of time to produce a costed data set of participating provider outlets. This is intended to more accurately capture the costs and volume of activity for each service on the Support at Home service list. As part of the SAHLDC 2025, we are targeting underrepresented provider characteristics from past cost collections and providers who were previously unable to participate due to data constraints.
We will continue to build on and refine our cost collections and in-home aged care data holdings to ensure our pricing advice is evidence-based and reflects the actual costs of delivering care. We will also explore options to improve engagement with smaller providers and providers from thin markets to increase the representativeness of our cost collections.
For more information on IHACPA’s aged care costing work program, please visit our website.
Consultation questions
- Are there specific service types, locations and population groups that IHACPA should focus on in future cost collections?
- How can IHACPA better support providers to participate in its cost collections to continue to improve their representativeness?
4. Developing pricing advice
4.1 Methodology and scope
IHACPA is required to provide advice on the recommended unit prices for items on the Support at Home service list. IHACPA’s pricing advice is based on the cost per unit of service, such as per hour or per meal, calculated using providers’ total in-scope costs and the volume of services delivered.
Our pricing advice is intended to cover all in-scope elements of care, including labour costs, travel, consumables and administration costs. We apply sample to population weights to improve the representativeness of cost data across provider and participant characteristics, such as remoteness, provider type (for profit, not-for-profit and government) and organisation size.
IHACPA uses cost and activity data from its annual cost collections, supplemented by existing data collections such as the Aged Care Financial Report (ACFR) and the Quarterly Financial Report, which are collected by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, and other relevant data sources to inform the development of unit prices.
The data sources underpinning a specific year’s pricing advice have an associated time lag. For example, the Support at Home Pricing Advice 2025–26 was based on the Support at Home Cost Collection 2024 and the 2022–23 ACFR. These data sources provide a basis for calculating the various cost components associated with the delivery of in-home aged care. Indexation is then used to inflate these costs to estimate the costs of service delivery in the pricing year.
In the Consultation Paper on the Pricing approach for the Support at Home service list 2025–26, we asked stakeholders to provide feedback on our proposed cost-based approach to developing unit pricing. Stakeholders were supportive of the use of a cost-based approach and recommended that data should reflect the true, up-to-date costs of service delivery, considering the diversity of organisations within the in-home aged care sector.
IHACPA will continue to conduct annual cost collections and public consultations to ensure its pricing advice is based on the best available data and information from the in-home aged care sector. We will endeavour to describe the pricing methodologies used in an easily understood and transparent manner for participants, providers and other stakeholders.
4.2 Indexation
As IHACPA’s approach to developing pricing advice is based on historical data, indexation is required to inflate underlying costs to align them with the expected cost of care delivery in the relevant pricing year.
In line with our approach to indexation in residential aged care, we use a range of Australian Bureau of Statistics indexes relevant to the aged care sector to separately index the labour and non labour components of unit prices.
In addition, we make adjustments to account for decisions and determinations made by the Fair Work Commission relating to work value cases and annual wage reviews, superannuation guarantee increases, as well as other known cost increases, when indexing labour costs for Support at Home services.
IHACPA will continue to update and refine its indexation methodology for the purpose of developing future pricing advice.
Ongoing refinements to our pricing advice and indexation methodology will be informed by
comprehensive data collection through our cost collections and time series cost data collected through the ACFR, reflecting cost growth over time. This will be further informed by feedback from our advisory committees and public consultation.
4.3 Price benchmarking
There are comparable schemes in other Australian Government funded social care and support programs, such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA), which deliver services similar to those on the Support at Home service list.
In 2024, IHACPA sought stakeholder feedback on the extent to which price benchmarking for similar services provided under comparable schemes in adjacent sectors should be considered as part of IHACPA’s development of pricing advice for the Support at Home service list. Many stakeholders supported benchmarking of prices as a method to help bring equity in access, consistency and fairness across the in-home aged care, NDIS and DVA sectors.
While alignment of pricing with comparable sectors is outside IHACPA’s remit and is a policy decision which remains the responsibility of the department, we will continue to consider feedback from stakeholders to ensure we are aware of factors relevant to our pricing advice. All stakeholder feedback, notwithstanding its relevance to the scope of this consultation paper, will be provided to the department to help inform decision making. We also note the importance of promoting fair access to in-home aged care services for everyone who needs it, particularly for people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, people in rural and remote communities where services may be limited, other people with special needs and those requiring trauma informed care.
5. Pricing adjustments
IHACPA recognises that within the in-home aged care sector, there may be cost variations experienced by different providers for delivering similar services. These cost variations could be based on the characteristics of the people receiving care or provider-related factors. IHACPA is committed to the use of best available evidence to support the development of pricing advice and consideration of pricing adjustments to account for these cost variations.
In our first year of developing pricing advice for the Support at Home service list, we considered the following priority areas, as requested by the Minister for Health and Ageing:
- any recommended pricing adjustments for services provided in rural and remote areas
- any recommended pricing adjustments for services provided for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other people with special needs.
In the Consultation Paper on the Pricing approach for the Support at Home service list 2025–26, we requested feedback from stakeholders on cost differentials and factors which may need to be considered in the pricing of in-home aged care services.
For 2025–26, IHACPA did not identify any pricing adjustments that could be applied consistently and equitably at a national level for services provided in rural and remote areas, or services provided for people with special needs, based on the available data and evidence. We will continue to investigate the need for pricing adjustments, noting the importance of accounting for potential cost variations.
IHACPA will work in collaboration with the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing to address any gaps in data collections to inform the development of future pricing advice, through refinements to the Aged Care Financial Report, where feasible, and through targeted data collection in future cost collections.
5.1 Services provided in rural and remote areas
Some providers operating in rural and remote areas can face substantial cost differences in the delivery of services. In rural and remote areas, there may be inadequate services for people requiring care, or an inadequate number of people requiring care to drive efficiency, meaning services may not be sustainable in current market conditions.
In response to IHACPA’s 2025–26 consultation paper, stakeholders provided feedback on cost variations related to delivering care in regional, rural and remote locations, including the distance to travel to provide services, the cost of freight to remote areas for equipment, the cost of accessing allied health assessments, costs associated with workforce challenges, and the inability to reach economies of scale.
While IHACPA’s pricing advice is intended to cover all in-scope elements of care, IHACPA notes the need to consider additional loadings or adjustments to account for cost variations that may be associated with delivering services in rural and remote areas. Stakeholder feedback on these costs and factors, alongside available activity and cost data, will inform IHACPA’s consideration of pricing adjustments for services provided in rural and remote areas for 2026–27 and future pricing years.
Consultation question
- What factors should IHACPA take into account when considering pricing adjustments for services provided in rural and remote areas?
5.2 Services provided for people with special needs
IHACPA acknowledges the need for its pricing advice to consider older people with complex care needs, that may result in differences in the costs of delivering care, including but not limited to:
- people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
- people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
- people who are financially or socially disadvantaged
- people who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of experiencing homelessness
- lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people
- people requiring trauma informed care.
In response to IHACPA’s 2025–26 consultation paper, stakeholders agreed that high-quality care must be culturally appropriate and inclusive. In particular, stakeholder responses highlighted the higher care needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants and the importance of delivering culturally safe and trauma-informed care by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff. Stakeholders also provided considerations regarding service delivery for participants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and older people who are experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness.
Stakeholder feedback on costs and factors associated with delivering care for people with special needs, alongside available activity and cost data, will inform IHACPA’s consideration of pricing adjustments for 2026–27 and future pricing years.
Consultation question
- What factors should IHACPA take into account when considering pricing adjustments for services provided for people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and other people with special needs?
6. Priorities for future pricing advice
In developing pricing advice for the Support at Home service list, IHACPA uses evidence-based methodologies and the latest available cost and activity data. IHACPA also considers a number of policy objectives, including priorities and focus areas for future pricing advice.
IHACPA’s future pricing advice for the Support at Home service list will be guided by the policy priorities set by the Australian Government and informed by improvements in the volume, quality and representativeness of cost and activity data collections.
In the Consultation Paper on the Pricing approach for the Support at Home service list 2025–26, we sought stakeholder feedback on some initial areas for consideration for future pricing advice, including:
- the need for pricing adjustments to meet changing regulatory costs
- the transition of the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) to the Support at Home program from no earlier than 1 July 2027
- comparing the cost of service delivery for in-home aged care to other sectors, including the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
6.1 Commonwealth Home Support Programme
In response to IHACPA’s 2025–26 consultation paper, many stakeholders recommended that IHACPA consider future pricing for the CHSP and the impact of transitioning CHSP services to the Support at Home program. Stakeholders noted the importance of taking into account strategic and business planning in readiness for the transition of CHSP services to the Support at Home program.
We will continue to consult broadly with the in-home aged care sector and identify existing data sources to support longer-term consideration of the transition of the CHSP to the Support at Home program. Guided by any advice from the government on the timeframes for the transition, we will also consider the inclusion of CHSP providers and relevant data items in future cost collections.
Consultation question
- What provider or participant related factors should IHACPA take into account when considering data requirements and the pricing approach for the transition of the CHSP to the Support at Home program?
6.2 Safety and quality in care delivery
Providers are required to provide safe and high-quality care. Under legislation, the Support at Home program aims to ensure that people who access aged care services funded by the government are treated with respect and have the quality of life they deserve.
IHACPA considers safety and quality in care delivery to be a longer-term objective due to the complexities within the in-home aged care sector and the remit of government for program and policy setting. We also recognise the role of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission and the need for any future pricing considerations to complement and support the Commission’s role in the sector.
We note the need for pricing advice for the Support at Home service list to reflect the resources required to provide culturally safe and inclusive care, including staff training, language services and cultural competency, and for funding to sufficiently cover specialised, person-centred care.
6.3 Other priority areas
In response to IHACPA’s 2025–26 consultation paper, stakeholders provided feedback regarding other future focus areas for IHACPA to consider, including:
- the impact of innovative technologies (including artificial intelligence, robotics, smart homes, remote monitoring and virtual care)
- increased complexity of care needs and older people remaining at home for longer
- increased costs and administrative burden due to changes to compliance and regulatory
requirements.
IHACPA will continue to engage with stakeholders to determine priorities to underpin consideration of other focus areas for future pricing advice, in consultation with the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. We will also consider the needs of older people with diverse backgrounds and life experiences in future pricing advice including people living with a disability, mental ill-health or experiencing complex care needs. This will be supported by determining the need for targeted data collections and consultations to account for any identified future priority areas.
Consultation question
- What future priorities should IHACPA consider when developing pricing advice for the Support at Home service list?
Glossary
| Term | Explanation |
|---|---|
|
Aged Care Financial Report (ACFR)
|
The ACFR enables the Australian Government to collect approved provider data (and parent entities where applicable). In-home aged care providers report:
|
| Approved provider | An approved provider is a person or body that has been approved as a provider of aged care. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission is responsible for assessing applications from organisations wanting to become approved providers. Approved providers can receive an Australian Government subsidy under the Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth). |
| People with special needs |
The Aged Care Act 1997 (Cth) outlines that for the purposes of this Act, the following people are people with special needs: a. people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities; b. people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds; c. people who live in rural or remote areas; d. people who are financially or socially disadvantaged; e. veterans; f. people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless; g. care leavers; h. parents separated from their children by forced adoption or removal; i. lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people; j. people of a kind (if any) specified in the Allocation Principles. |
| Support at Home Cost Collection (SAHCC) | IHACPA undertakes the SAHCC annually. The SAHCC includes the collection of cost and activity data from a sample of in-home aged care providers who deliver in-home aged care services. |
| Support at Home Costing Study (SAHCS) | IHACPA undertook the SAHCS in 2023. The SAHCS 2023 provided advice on both the type and method of data collection for the in-home aged care sector. |
| Support at Home Live Data Collection (SAHLDC) | The SAHLDC 2025 aims to collect cost and activity data from Home Care Packages and Short-Term Restorative Care Programme provider outlets in real time over a set period to produce a costed data set of participating provider outlets. |
| Support at Home program |
The Support at Home program will bring together existing in-home aged care programs, including the Home Care Package (HCP) Program, Short-Term Restorative Care Programme (STRC) and the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP). The Support at Home program is being delivered across 2 stages:
|