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. A Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) was prepared by the Department of Health and Ageing and assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation for the proposed package. One element of this package was a requirement for approved aged care providers to seek pre-approval from the Government of proposed accommodation charges from 1 July 2014. On 21 December 2012, the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing announced details of when pre-approval will be required. Under the proposed arrangements, aged care providers will require pre-approval if they wish to levy accommodation charges of $85 per day (in 2012 prices) (or the lump sum equivalent) or more. A government authority will assess applications for approval against guidelines to be developed by the Government in consultation with industry and consumers. Providers will not require pre-approval, but will be required to conduct and publish a self-assessment of their accommodation charges against the guidelines mentioned above where they wish to charge more than the maximum Government accommodation supplement ($50 per day (in 2012 prices) from 1 July 2014, (or lump sum equivalent) but less than $85 per day. Providers who charge up to the maximum Government accommodation supplement will not be required to conduct and publish a self assessment of their accommodation charges. An Addendum to the RIS examining these issues was prepared by the Department of Health and Ageing and has been assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation. Accommodation Payments RIS Addendum – Word version [
61 KB] Accommodation Payments RIS Addendum – PDF version [
193 KB]