Star Ratings for residential aged care

Star Ratings can help older Australians and their representatives make more informed choices about their aged care. We have developed a Star Ratings system for residential aged care across Australia.

About Star Ratings

Star Ratings was developed to make it easier for older people and their representatives to access and compare the quality and safety of residential aged care homes.

You can search and view Star Ratings through the ‘Find a provider’ tool on the My Aged Care website.

Star Ratings support older Australians and their representatives to easily compare services and make informed choices based on an overall Star Rating and four sub-categories:

  • Compliance – based on non-compliance decisions made by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission reported daily.
  • Residents’ Experience – at least 10% of older Australians living in residential aged care homes are interviewed face-to-face about their overall experience at their residential aged care home by a third-party vendor annually.
  • Staffing minutes – derived from reporting under the Quarterly Financial Report and Annual Financial report, case-mix adjusted through the Australian National Aged Care Classification and reported quarterly.
  • Quality Measures – data on five existing quality indicators (pressure injuries, physical restraint, unplanned weight loss, falls and major injury, and medication management) reported quarterly.

Why Star Ratings are important

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety recommended developing and publishing a Star Ratings based on measurable information.

Star Ratings will help older Australians and their families to compare the quality and safety performance of different services.

Benefits of Star Ratings

The introduction of Star Ratings is a key milestone in the aged care reforms and will deliver a range of benefits, including: 

  • transparency about the quality of care in all aged care homes 
  • an easy way to compare the quality of aged care homes using the free ‘Find a provider’ tool on the My Aged Care website   
  • nationally consistent quality measures to monitor, compare and improve aged care 
  • providers will be engaged to continuously improve their Star Ratings, improving the quality of care for older Australians. 

Who we work with

The department has developed Star Ratings, with assistance from the University of Queensland (UQ)-led consortium, including:

  • the UQ Centre for Health Services Research (CHSR)
  • the Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council (ACIITC)
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Together we have completed:

  • research
  • consultation
  • design
  • testing.

Resources

You can search and view Star Ratings using the ‘Find a provider’ tool on the My Aged Care website.

The Star Ratings resources include information fact sheets, frequently asked questions, a ‘how to’ mini-video and a detailed provider manual. 

To order hard copies of Star Ratings brochures for yourself or your organisation please email health@nationalmailing.com.au or call 02 6269 1080 and quote this code: AGR001.

You can watch the Star Ratings provider webinar recording from November 2022

Sign up on our Aged Care Engagement Hub to stay up to date with the aged care reforms.

Contact

My Aged Care for Star Ratings

For more information about Star Ratings please call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422.
Last updated:

Help us improve health.gov.au

If you would like a response please use the enquiries form instead.