Pricing Framework for Australian Residential Aged Care Services - Consultation video

The Independent Health and Aged Care Authority, or IHACPA as we are known, is an independent government body.

Our role is to contribute to improved health and aged care outcomes for all Australians and ensure fair access to high quality health care and residential aged care services.

One of our tasks is to provide pricing advice to Government in relation to residential and respite aged care services.

In providing pricing advice, our aim is to make sure that aged care funding, including through the Australian National Aged Care Classification, or AN-ACC funding model, is directly informed by the actual cost of delivering care.

Our advice to Government is based on the evidence and data we gather – and while we provide pricing advice, it is the Minister for Health and Aged Care who is responsible for determining the price for aged care services. 

Each year, IHACPA holds an open consultation known as the Consultation on the Pricing Framework for Australian Residential Aged Care Services. This is an opportunity for you to have your say in the development of the Pricing Framework. The process will inform our annual pricing advice to Government for residential aged care and residential respite services.

This year’s consultation is now open.

We’re calling on stakeholders – from residents to families, aged care workers, providers of all types and size, healthcare providers and the general public to respond to a range of questions that are set out in the Pricing Framework Consultation Paper. The answers you provide to these questions will help shape the pricing policy and approach IHACPA will use to developing costing and pricing advice. 

The questions in the Consultation Paper focus on a range of specific topics each year as well as topics for consideration in the future years  

We also welcome feedback generally, on matters relating to the effective and efficient funding of residential aged care and residential respite care – however feedback on the specific questions is of most support. 

Whether you are someone who uses aged care services, or you support a person in aged care, an aged care employee or are an aged care service provider – we want to hear from you in response to the Consultation Paper questions.

You don’t need to respond to all of the questions – we are keen to hear from you even if you only want to respond to one or two of them. Your feedback will inform the development of the Pricing Framework for Residential Aged Care Services.

To make a submission, visit the IHACPA website. 

Please read the Consultation Paper and identify the consultation questions you would like to respond to.

There are three ways you can provide your feedback: through the online submission form on the website, by email, or you can send us a handwritten or typed letter by post. 

Make sure that your response is submitted before the consultation period closes. 

After the consultation period closes, we’ll review each submission and identify the key themes that you have told us about. 

We will then summarise the feedback in a Consultation Report.

This Consultation Report will inform our development of the next Pricing Framework for Australian Residential Aged Care Services.

The Pricing Framework will include decisions that support our residential and respite aged care pricing advice to Government from 1 July.

The Pricing Framework and the Consultation Report will then be published on the IHACPA website.

In the interest of openness and transparency, we publish all public submissions on our website, along with the Consultation Report and the Pricing Framework for Residential Aged Care Services. 

We won’t publish your submission if you specifically request that all or parts of it not be released.

In the interest of privacy, we will remove or redact any personal details from submissions, such as contact information, before they are published. 

The development of efficient pricing for residential aged care is a process that requires refinement over time. 

To this end, we’ll review the Pricing Framework for Residential Aged Care Services and its procedure, annually, to make sure our pricing advice remains fit for purpose, is evidence-based and responds to changes in the aged care sector.

If you’d like more information about our role in providing residential aged care pricing advice, please visit our website to find our factsheets as well as answers to some of the most frequently asked questions. 

If you have further questions, please do get in touch with us.

Make sure you stay up to date with our aged care work program and consultation by subscribing to the mailing list.

Your participation in our aged care consultation will genuinely help shape the future of residential aged care funding. We look forward to hearing from you.