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