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On the 12th of March 2024, the Department of Health and Aged Care released the Final Report of the Aged Care Taskforce.

This report examines the recommendations proposed by the Aged Care Taskforce to support an aged system that is sustainable, fair and facilitates greater innovation in the sector.

It provides information on:

• The need for change
• Aged Care Funding Principles
• Recommendations
  • Support older people to age in place
  • Equitable and sustainable funding
  • Quality, innovation and transparency

Some snippets of information is provided below however it is recommended that the full report be read to provide context and for further information.

The Aged Care Funding Principles listed

• Support older people to age in place
  • The aged care system should support older people to live at home for as long as they wish and can do so safely
• Equitable and sustainable funding
  • Aged care funding should be equitable, easy to understand and sustainable
  • Government is and will continue to be the major funder of aged care. Government funding should be focused on care costs as well as delivering services in thin markets. Personal co-contributions should be focused on accommodation and everyday living costs with a sufficient safety net.
  • The residential sector should have access to sufficient capital to develop and upgrade accommodation, including in rural and remote areas and First Nations communities.
• Quality, innovation and transparency
  • Aged care funding should be sufficient to deliver person-centred, quality care by a skilled workforce
  • Aged care funding should support innovation to improve aged care services and their relationships with the health and hospital systems
  • There should be transparency and accountability for how aged care funding is received and spent while minimising regulatory burden.

Recommendations

1. Underpin the Support at Home Program with inclusion and exclusion principles and clearly definted service lists
2. Continue the significant role for government funding of aged care services. A specific tax or levy to fund aged care is not recommended
3. It is appropriate older people make a fair co‑contribution to the cost of their aged care based on their means
4. Ensure a strong safety net for low means participants to meet aged care costs
5. Make aged care fees fairer, simpler and more transparent so people can understand the costs they will incur if they access aged care
6. Establish appropriate arrangements to allow older people and providers to smoothly transition to any new arrangements, including grandparenting arrangements for those already in residential aged care and phasing in for home care
7. Establish a fee-for-service model for Support at Home that ensures participants only pay a co‑contribution for services received
8. Introduce Support at Home participant co‑contributions that vary based on the type of service accessed
9. Continue to focus government funding in residential aged care on care costs, with a significant role for resident co-contributions in non-care components
10. Funding for daily living needs to cover the full cost of providing these services. It is recommended this be composed of the Basic Daily Fee and a supplement
11. Enable residents and their representative and providers to negotiate better or more daily living services for a higher fee, subject to at least:
    1. publishing prices and services
    2. only allowing agreement to higher fees for agreed services to be made after a participant has entered care
    3. a cooling off period and regular review opportunities to ensure the resident still wants the services and can still use them.
12. Following an independent review in 2030, transition the sector by 2035 to no longer accept RADs as a form of payment for aged care accommodation and move to a rental only model, provided that the independent review finds there is improved financial sustainability, diversified and adequate sources of capital to meet future demand and residential aged care is affordable for consumers
13. Require providers to retain a portion of the RAD in the near‑term to make an immediate improvement to sector financial sustainability. Base the amount on length of stay, with a cap on the number of years a RAD is subject to retention to protect residents who stay for a long time
14. Review the Accommodation Supplement, including improving incentives to meet the accommodation design principles.
15. In addition to the other accommodation recommendations, develop a package of measures to improve accommodation funding, equity between residents and transparency in the near-term. This will help place accommodation income on a long-term sustainable footing and position the sector for the ultimate phase out of RADs
16. Establish appropriate safeguards and incentives to protect access to residential care for supported residents
17. Consider the appropriateness of the current remoteness classification system
18. Continue block funding in thin markets where appropriate and necessary. Consider any other supports necessary to ensure access to care in under serviced markets
19. Consider ways to encourage providers to develop and scale innovative care models, invest in technology, and conduct research into best practices, including through:
    1. the recommendations outlined in this report to improve the viability of the aged care sector
    2. tasking the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission with supporting innovation by identifying innovative practices and promoting these across the sector.
20. Raise awareness of existing financial products that enable older people to utilise their wealth in retirement and provide confidence they can afford future aged care costs
21. Task the Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government (BETA) to provide advice on how to encourage people to consider their future aged care needs at an appropriate stage of life
22. Review and streamline financial reporting to government where possible to ensure reporting is genuinely enhancing transparency
23. Improve communications between the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority (IHACPA) and providers and participants regarding its pricing advice and decisions, and task IHACPA with:
    1. a review of its pricing in rural and remote areas
    2. costing of the supplement for everyday living.