We're all in the thick of preparations for the new rights-based Aged Care Act 2024 to take effect on 1 July 2025, and with it our new Support at Home program. There has been a lot of hard work and consultation with older people, providers, and peak bodies over the past 3 years to make sure the design of the program meets the needs of Australia's ageing population as much as possible.
One of the key focuses for discussion at the Aged Care Transition Taskforce has been pricing for Support at Home. We have heard that providers need recognition that prices should reflect the full cost of providing that service and that costs of service delivery may differ across regions.
Many of you will have recently completed the Support at Home pricing survey that the Department of Health and Aged Care sent out last month. Thank you to the more than a third of providers who participated. The intent behind the survey was to establish a baseline for how you and your fellow providers plan to price your in-home services from 1 July.
The data from the survey was very helpful and allowed the department to develop price guidance that has now been published on the department's website. The indicative price ranges for each type of service provides market-level information that older people and their supporters can use to understand how a providers' pricing compares with other providers across the country and make informed decisions about where they want to go to receive care.
The prices on the website are not intended to be seen as price caps, but rather as guidance that you should refer to when setting your own prices to ensure that you are not out of step with the sector. Prices will vary across the country due to factors such as location and workforce availability.
Your priority at this time must be making sure that your prices are reasonable and transparent for your clients when you transition to Support at Home. Our expectation is that prices will be reasonable and correspond to your own costs for delivering those services. For example, package management and travel must now be included in the unit price, not as a separate charge as it is now. You may also choose to adjust your prices to consider transitional costs. You should very carefully consider circumstances where Home Care Package program clients may receive fewer services under Support at Home as a result of your pricing decisions, as you will need to justify this change to them.
While you can charge a range of prices for each service type, from 1 July 2025, you must publish a standard price for each of your services on the My Aged Care website. The department will actively monitor these to check they align with the prices you are charging. If we find that a provider has set prices that seem excessive when compared to the market, we will ask you to present evidence to the department or to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to demonstrate how you have arrived at the pricing in question, and how it is justified. If we determine that the prices cannot be justified, then enforcement action will be taken. It is my fervent hope that this does not occur.
So, what's next? It's time to set your prices for Support at Home. If you have any questions about Support at Home pricing, you should contact your peak or the Aged Care Transition Taskforce for guidance. Once you have determined your price list, you should contact your clients to discuss the changes and help them to transition to a new service agreement, ready for 1 July 2025.
The Department of Health and Aged Care will write to existing home care recipients in early April to provide more information about what they can expect in the lead up to Support at Home commencing.
