About provider transfers
A transfer is when you (the approved provider) move one of your Home Care Package services to another approved provider.
When this happens, your care recipients:
- exit from your service (the original service)
- transfer to the service with the other provider (the continuing service).
A transfer is usually part of a merger or acquisition, sometimes within the same organisation.
Step 1: Do basic checks
Before you start a transfer, check:
- whether claims for the service are up to date – if not, work with Services Australia to resolve any outstanding claims, as they cannot give you refunds for closed or inactive services
- whether there are outstanding refunds – contact Services Australia and let them know that you need these processed so you can transfer your service
- the number of care recipients who access care through the service – we must manually exit care recipients from your service before transferring them to the continuing service; this will take longer if the transfer affects a lot of care recipients
- whether your care recipients know about the transfer – give them advance notice and tell them about their rights under the Charter of Aged Care Rights.
Step 2: Link the continuing service to an outlet
The continuing provider must decide which of their outlets will take referrals for the original service.
Once they have decided, they must login to the My Aged Care Service and Support Portal to:
- make sure they have created the outlet
- link their continuing service to the outlet.
If needed, they can follow the My Aged Care create service delivery outlets and add service information guide.
Step 3: Submit the application
At least 60 days before the transfer date (which must be on the first day of a month):
- complete the application form to transfer home care services to another approved provider
- attach a copy of your latest Services Australia payment statement
- email the application to our state or territory office where the service will be located.
Step 4: We process your application
We will transfer your care recipients to the continuing service on your behalf.
We will also tell Services Australia to:
- suspend advance payments
- record exit and entry information (if you use Aged Care Provider Portal, Services Australia will tell you how to do this yourself).
You will receive automated confirmation that your care recipients have accepted the transfer.
Once Services Australia has recorded the transfers, you cannot reverse the process.
Step 5: Process complete
Our relevant state or territory office will let you know when the process is complete. You should:
- update your details in the My Aged Care Service and Support Portal
- check statements to make sure we have processed payments correctly.
In the portal, you can:
- leave the original service as open, but mark it inactive
- ask us to close the service.
The provider receiving the transfer cannot use the transfer as a reason to change their fees.