About pricing risk assessments
We are introducing pricing risk assessments from Quarter 4 (April to June 2026) to better understand misreporting in residential aged care.
This program aims to:
- identify common errors in financial reporting, particularly in the Aged Care Financial Report (ACFR)
- measure the impact of misreporting to make sure pricing decisions reflect the underlying cost of care delivery.
The information you report in the Aged Care Financial Report, or ACFR, helps shape national pricing advice and policy decisions.
When data is unclear or inconsistent, it can directly impact funding outcomes for registered providers like you.
Every registered provider operates differently with unique structures, services, and cost profiles. This variation makes it challenging to build an accurate and complete picture of care costs across the sector.
That's why we've introduced the pricing risk assessment program to work collaboratively with registered providers to strengthen our understanding of actual care costs and ensure funding reflects the true cost of care delivery.
This is not an audit, and it's not about catching mistakes.
The program will be conducted annually across 4 stages.
- We will identify a sample of registered providers and ACFR financial line items.
- We'll work directly with these registered providers to complete data validation activities and share any feedback directly with each provider.
- We'll analyse the results at the sector level to inform pricing and policy decisions.
- We'll capture lessons learned to support continuous improvement in how the program is delivered.
If your organization is selected, we'll contact you ahead of time so you know what to expect from the process and what you are required to do and when.
We will also have resources available to support you.
We will work with you to understand how specific ACFR line items have been reported in your most recent ACFR, including the processes you've followed to calculate them.
From there, we'll provide a tailored list of the information we need. Once received, we will validate the data and follow up if any clarification is needed.
Throughout the process, we will aim to keep disruption to a minimum. We know your time is valuable and we are here to support you.
This is about partnership. We're in this together to build a clearer, more accurate understanding of aged care costs.
When cost data reflects reality, funding decisions become accurate and more responsive. That means stronger support across the entire sector, not just today but well into the future.
Our long-term goal is a stronger, more sustainable aged care system, one where funding aligns with the real cost of delivering high quality care.
To learn more about these changes and the support available to you, visit the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website
Why it is important
Residential aged care providers prepare their financial reporting differently. This impacts their reported costs and subsequent government decisions.
The pricing risk assessments will help:
- measure common reporting errors in the ACFR
- develop more accurate pricing and funding policy
- ensures providers are funded to meet the real cost of delivering residential aged care.
What we are checking
We will sample residential care homes from different market segments and focus on key items in their ACFR.
These key items may include:
- labour costs
- the cost of care consumables
- depreciation expenses
- any other high-priority line items.
Pricing risk assessments are not a compliance activity and are designed to help us make sure the residential aged care sector is funded accurately.
What you need to do
If selected, you must:
- respond to our request in a timely manner
- submit all relevant records (e.g. payroll, rosters, etc.)
- let us know if you require more time to provide your documents.
We encourage you to have your systems and data ready to respond to our requests. By responding to our request early, we can answer your questions and ensure you are supported in this process.
Pricing risk assessments for residential aged care – fact sheet
Findings
The findings will:
- help us develop more accurate funding policy
- ensures the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority have reliable data to set evidence-based pricing.
We will publish findings on our website where possible, so that everyone can benefit from them.
Webinar
If you have questions, register to our webinar on Thursday 26 March 2026 from 2–3pm (AEST), which will provide an overview of pricing risk assessments.
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