Participate in aged care cost collection 2024

The Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority is an independent national agency that provides evidence-based pricing to the Australian Government for health and aged care services.  

IHACPA’s role in aged care is to collect cost data, consult with stakeholders and gather evidence. IHACPA provides informed pricing advice for residential and respite aged care as well as in-home aged care to government. 

The need for data

Cost data collection ensures that aged care pricing is directly informed by the actual costs of delivering care.  

IHACPA will collect data on cost, activity and volume of activity on a regular basis to guide the continued development of its costed data set. It will also use other available datasets, including the Aged Care Financial Report and the Quarterly Financial Reports, to refine the pricing framework and method over time. 

IHACPA’s data set will be used to develop its annual pricing advice to government. 

Collecting a diverse range of aged care cost data is crucial. It ensures that data from under-represented geographical locations, provider types and service types are better captured and represented.  

From June 2024, IHACPA will undertake two cost collections: the Support at Home Cost Collection 2024 and the Residential Aged Care Cost Collection 2024. 

Residential Aged Care Cost Collection 2024 

The RACCC 2024 seeks to increase the number of participants from the 2023 collection and perform detailed analysis for target areas. This will improve IHACPA’s understanding of care-related administration costs, allied health, indirect care time, and respite services. 

HealthConsult have been engaged to work with IHACPA for the RACCC 2024. 

Who should participate? 

Support from all workers across the aged care home is essential. This helps to give IHACPA a complete picture of the amount and cost of care provided to a person living in a residential aged care home. This includes home managers, registered and enrolled nurses and personal care workers. 

How to participate in RACCC 2024

RACCC will start in June 2024. Register your interest to participate, or receive an information pack:  https://comms.ihacpa.gov.au/survey.php?sid=33423&name=help-shape-the-future-of-aged-care-pricing

Support at Home Cost Collection 2024

The SAHCC 2024 will build upon the initial data sets collected from the Support at Home Costing Study 2023. It will collect more data on cost, activity and volume of activity, and guide the continued development of our costed data set.  

Ernst and Young have been engaged to assist with the SAHCC 2024.  

Who should participate?

IHACPA is seeking a diverse range of providers who represent all Aged Care Planning Regions, package levels, provider ownership models, provider size and specialist services.  

In-home aged providers are encouraged to take part where they provide either or both programs:  

• Home Care Packages
• Short-Term Restorative Care.

In November 2023, the Department of Health and Aged Care announced that the Commonwealth Home Support Program would not be included in the new Support at Home program until July 2027. CHSP will be considered in future cost collections.

How to participate in SAHCC 2024

SAHCC 2024 is starting soon. Register your interest to participate in SAHCC 2024: https://www.ihacpa.gov.au/ihacpa-aged-care-cost-collection-expression-interest-participate?utm_source=article&utm_medium=aust-ageing-agenda&utm_campaign=aged-care-costing 

Get involved

The cost collection data will be used to inform IHACPA’s pricing advice to government from 1 July 2025. By participating, providers will: 

• play a role in shaping pricing advice to government
• contribute to IHACPA’s understanding of costs associated with aged care services
• enable under-represented geographical locations, provider types and service types to be better captured
• receive a facility benchmarking and data insights pack that provides valuable costed data summaries.

Visit the IHACPA website to learn more about aged care cost collection https://www.ihacpa.gov.au/aged-care/aged-care-costing