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Aged Care System Reform – Regulation Impact Statement – Department of Health and Ageing

On 20 April 2012 the Prime Minister and the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing announced a package of significant reforms to the way in which aged care is provided and funded in Australia. The main changes include:

  • the creation of an aged care information ‘gateway’;
  • provision of additional aged care places, with an increasing share of aged care to be provided in the community;
  • changed means testing arrangements for aged care, resulting in higher contributions from some recipients (subject to annual and lifetime caps);
  •  changes to the way accommodation fees can be charged by residential aged care providers; and
  • the development of an aged care workforce agreement, with the aim of improving wages and productivity in the sector.

The major regulatory changes in the aged care reform package involve residential care providers. Providers will be able to offer all new care recipients the choice between a lump sum and periodic accommodation payments. The levels of payments will be regulated by a new aged care financial regulator. The changes announced in the package commence in July 2014. The Regulation Impact Statement was prepared by the Department of Health and Ageing and assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation.