Reasons for exiting the program
A participant may exit Support at Home for various reasons, including:
- moving into permanent residential aged care
- no longer wanting or needing Support at Home services
- death.
Exit date
The exit date is the day that you cease delivering ongoing Support at Home services.
If the participant:
- has died – the exit date will be the date of death
- is moving into permanent residential aged care – the exit date is usually the date of entry into that care.
What the participant must do
The participant (or their appointed decision maker) should:
- let you know in writing as soon as possible
- tell you the exit date.
What you must do
As the provider, you must:
- agree on the exit date
- notify Services Australia within 28 calendar days of the exit date
- finalise claims within 60 days after the exit date
- issue final invoices for any participant contributions and a final monthly statement.
If the participant has died, you must also:
- update the My Aged Care Service and Support Portal with the departure code
- call My Aged Care to update the participant recorded
- finalise all claims within 60 days from the date after the participant dies.
You cannot charge an exit amount when a participant leaves your care.
Transitioned HCP care recipients
If the participant transitioned from the Home Care Packages (HCP) Program, they may have unspent funds. In this case, you must also:
- identify any provider-held unspent HCP funds
- calculate the participant portion and the Commonwealth portion
- refund any participant portion to the participant or their estate
- return any Commonwealth portion to Services Australia.
If the participant joined the HCP Program after 1 September 2021, you would not hold a Commonwealth portion. Any unspent funds you hold would be a participant portion.
Provider-initiated cessation
You can cease delivering services to a participant under certain circumstances. This may include transferring services to another registered provider. You are responsible for ensuring continuity of care arrangements for all participants.
Find out when you can cease services and what you need to do.
Find out more
Read Chapter 12 (ceasing and temporarily stopping services) in the Support at Home program manual.