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Legislative changes relevant to the Aged Care Assessment Program

The Aged Care Amendment Act (2008 Measures No. 2) was passed by Parliament on 4 December 2008. The changes relevent to the operation of the Aged Care Assessment Program are listed.

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PDF printable version of Legislative Changes Relevant To the Aged Care Assessment Program (PDF 58 KB)

What are the legislative changes?

A number of changes affecting aged care were made in December 2008.
Changes were made to the:

1. Aged Care Act 1997 (see Aged Care Amendment (2008 Measures No. 2) Act 2008)
2. Aged Care Principles 1997 (see Approval of Care Recipients Amendment Principles 2008 (No.2)).

Why were the legislative changes made?

The key objectives of the amendments were to:

1. Reduce the number of unnecessary assessments (and reassessments) performed by ACATs to improve assessment waiting times
2. Ensure that ACAT reassessments are conducted only for the people who genuinely need them
3. Improve the equity of access for some forms of flexible care by allowing a person to access care at a lower level in the community

What are the benefits to ACATs?

The introduction of these legislative changes will reduce the number of ACAT assessments needed and is expected to improve timeliness in assessments.

How do the changes affect ACATs?

There are changes to lapsing of some approvals as follows:

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Care not received

From 1 July 2009 all current approvals for the following care types will not lapse if a person has not received the type of care:


• Residential respite care (high and low level)
• High level residential care
• Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH)
• EACH Dementia (EACH D) Package

This means all approvals made for these care types on or after 1 July 2008 - and which were not time limited so that they expired before 1 July 2009 - will not lapse.

Approvals will continue to lapse for Community Aged Care Packages (CACPs) if a person is not provided with community care within 12 months starting on the day after the approval is given.

Approvals will also continue to lapse for low level residential care if a person is not provided with the care within 12 months starting on the day after the approval is given.

Approvals will also continue to lapse for transition care if a person is not provided with the care within 4 weeks beginning on the day after approval.

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Break in care

From 1 January 2009 all current approvals for people who have received high level residential care or residential respite care (high and low level) will not lapse irrespective of when the approval was made and even if there is a break in care. This was already the case from 20 March 2008 for CACP, EACH and EACH D.

Approvals will continue to lapse for low level residential care if a person has commenced receiving care, and there is a break in care lasting more than 28 days which occurs after the lapsing period of 12 months (beginning on the day after approval) ends.

Approvals will also continue to lapse for transition care if a person has commenced receiving care, and there is a break in care of at least one day after the lapsing period of four weeks (beginning on the day after approval) ends.



There are changes to eligibility for approvals for EACH D or EACH Package as follows:

From 1 January 2009 if a person is eligible to receive an:


• EACH D Package – the person is also eligible for an EACH Package or a Community Aged Care Package (CACP) as an alternative to an EACH D Package
• EACH Package – the person is also eligible for a CACP as an alternative to an EACH Package

What strategies have been developed to support the implementation of these new legislative changes?

The Commonwealth is currently revising and updating the following:

1. Guidelines

• Aged Care Assessment Program Guidelines
• Residential Care Manual
• Draft Community Packaged Care Guidelines

2. National Training Resources

• ‘An Introduction to the Aged Care Assessment Program’ Learning Package
• The recently updated National Delegation Training Resources

3. Forms

• Aged Care Client Record (ACCR) (3020(0709))
• 21 day extension form (2670(0709)) for residential respite care
• Template letters for notification

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What communication strategies will be used to ensure all stakeholders understand the benefits of the legislative changes?

The Commonwealth will:

1. Write to all clients with a current approval at 1 July 2009 who are yet to receive care
2. Inform Peak Bodies
3. Update script for the Department of Health and Ageing’s Aged Care Information Line
4. Write to all Service Providers – Residential and Community
5. Inform ACAP Officials and Evaluation Units
6. Inform ACATs by:

• A letter written to each ACAT Manager
• ACAT Chat articles
• ACAT specific website

What implementation strategies are currently being undertaken by the Commonwealth to distribute new forms?

1. Medicare Australia will send new forms to each ACAT by mid-June 2009.
2. ACAT Managers will be responsible for ensuring their teams have enough copies of the following forms to commence use on 1 July 2009:

• ACCR
• 21 day extension form for residential respite care
• Template letters for notification

What happens to old forms?

1. Medicare Australia is monitoring the printing of current forms to limit surplus supplies after 1 July 2009.
2. Team Leaders were requested to order only enough of the current forms to last until 30 June 2009 as they cannot be used after that date.
3. Destroy all old forms through secure waste after 30 June 2009. Under no circumstances should ACCR forms be disposed of by garbage or recycling collection unless it has been through an approved destruction process, such as shredding.

How does this affect Template Letters?

Updated Template letters to notify clients of approvals, non approvals and variations will be available to download from the ACAT specific website (www.health.gov.au/acats) and MUST be used from 1 July 2009.

What happens to those teams who use the eACCR?

1. Where necessary, Aged Care Evaluation (ACE) and non ACE software will be adapted to support the legislative changes.
2. In most places the ACE software will automatically implement the changes from midnight 30 June 2009. Please check with your Evaluation Unit.
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