News

Transitioning to the new in-home aged care program

January 10, 2023

Older Australians Fact Sheet No.1

This fact sheet is the first in a series to help prepare older people in Australia who are supported by Commonwealth funded in-home aged care services, and their families and carers to transition to the new program.

The Australian Government has committed to delivering a reformed and improved in-home aged care program by 1 July 2024. This follows the timeframe recommended by the Royal Commission in Aged Care Quality and Safety (Royal Commission).

The new in-home aged care program will address the Royal Commission’s recommendations to support older people to stay in their homes for longer.

The new program will replace existing Commonwealth funded in-home aged care programs:

• Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP),
• Home Care Packages (HCP) Program,
• Short-Term Restorative Care (STRC) Programme, and
• Residential Respite Referrals.

We are working to finalise the design of the program, with the goal to address issues such as:

• waiting times,
• better alignment of services to needs,
• access to high quality and safe aged care,
• excessive administration costs, and
• insufficient access to the supports that older people need to stay independent at home.

Ensuring that all CHSP clients are in My Aged Care

In preparation for the reforms, the Department of Health and Aged Care (the department) will be working with CHSP providers to ensure each of their clients have a record in My Aged Care.

This will guarantee that all older people will be able to transition to the new program on 1 July 2024 without any interruption to the care they recieve.  

This means that if you receive care from a CHSP provider but do not have a My Aged Care record, or your record is not visible to your current provider they will be in contact with you in the coming months regarding this process.

To help them create or update your existing My Aged Care client record, your CHSP provider may ask you to provide some information about yourself. This may include your:

• name, gender,
• date of birth,
• current address, and
• your Medicare card number, or Centrelink Reference Number (CRN), or Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) number.

Your provider must seek your consent before collecting this information, which is consistent with the existing My Aged Care client registration process. 

Once you have given this information to your provider, there is nothing else you need to do.

Stay informed

As the new program develops, we will regularly update the Reforming in-home aged care webpage, which includes:

• a consultation calendar,
• key resources for older people and the sector, and 
• information on past consultations we have conducted.

To get involved, visit the Aged Care Engagement Hub where you can:

• participate in surveys and other consultations.
• register for upcoming events, such as webinars,
• subscribe to the monthly EngAged newsletter for the latest news and stories.

Further Information

For enquiries related to the in-home aged care reforms, please email sah.implementation@health.gov.au.   

Phone: 1800 200 422 (My Aged Care’s free call phone line)

Website: www.agedcareengagement.health.gov.au

For translating and interpreting services, call 131 450 and ask for My Aged Care on 1800 200 422.

To use the National Relay Service, visit nrschat.nrscall.gov.au/nrs or call 1800 555 660