New aged care assessment system starts

If you wish to be eligible for taxpayer subsidised aged care – whether help at home, home care packages, or entry into an aged care home – then you must be assessed by a government authorised agency. 

That process has been severely criticised for being too complicated and inefficient. As part of its package of reforms of the aged care system, the Federal Government says it has streamlined the current multiple assessment pathways into a single pathway staffed by clinically trained people. 

It’s called the Single Assessment System workforce and it started on 9 December 2024, bringing together and replacing:   

• The Regional Assessment Service  

• Aged Care Assessment Teams  

• Independent Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) assessment organisations.   

The Department of Health and Aged Care says the new system: 

• Provides a single pathway to access all government-funded aged care  

• Supports an older person’s shifting needs, without having to change assessment provider    

• Ensures access to assessments in regional, remote, and rural areas      

• Will gradually reduce wait times for an assessment.     

First Nations assessment organisations will be rolled out from 1 July 2025 to provide a tailored culturally safe pathway for older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to access aged care.  

Under the Single Assessment System workforce, all organisations conducting aged care needs assessments can offer: 

• Home support assessments for the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) 

• Comprehensive assessments for  the Home Care Packages Program

• Residential respite  

• Flexible aged care programs 

• Entry into residential aged care.

Some assessment organisations will conduct residential aged care funding assessments to determine an older person’s Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) after they have settled into residential aged care. 

Most residential aged care funding assessment organisations will also conduct aged care needs assessments to expand availability and access across Australia.  

State and territory governments will continue to deliver hospital-based assessments. If you need an assessment while in hospital, you will be allocated the next available assessor. 

The Federal Department of Health and Aged Care says it will work closely with incoming and existing assessment organisations to support a smooth transition to the Single Assessment System workforce “and ensure there are no service gaps”. 

Here is a full list of assessment organisations under the Single Assessment System workforce by state and territory and region. You can also find assessment organisations by Aged Care Planning Region on this searchable map. 

Triage delegates undertake a short triage process with an older person within two weeks of an organisation receiving referrals for aged care needs assessments. 

Triage delegates are clinically qualified and have the experience and expertise to assess and determine the needs of an older person. This ensures older people with lower needs are not over-assessed and those with complex needs have access to a comprehensive assessment. 

The Single Assessment System is designed to be flexible, so older people will be supported by the same organisation even if a change of needs is identified. 

If an older person is having a comprehensive assessment by a clinical assessor, the assessor can recommend Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) services if required. 

If an older person is receiving a home support assessment by a non-clinical assessor, the assessor can call a clinical assessor (by phone or video conference) to discuss questions that require clinical judgment. 

If a clinical assessor is not available right away, they will call back or arrange a follow-up assessment to ask the remaining clinical questions.

• There are no changes to aged care eligibility requirements or in-hospital assessments.
• The process for referrals to aged care assessments, urgent services and reassessments has stayed the same.

• Aged care needs assessments continue to be done in person, at the older person’s home, or in hospital if required. 

• Residential aged care funding assessment continue to be done once an older person has settled into residential aged care. 

The department is working with new, continuing and exiting assessment organisations to support a smooth transition and ensure minimal impacts for older people. 

The department says there should be no disruptions for anyone who is currently waiting for an assessment. 

• If they have already engaged with My Aged Care and are waiting for an assessment organisation to contact them, they don’t need to do anything else. A local assessment organisation will call them to book an assessment within two weeks of accepting their referral. 

• If they already have an assessment booked in, nothing will change. An assessor will come to their home to conduct the assessment at the booked time and date.