Aged Care Act 2024

The Minister must cause an independent review of the operation of this Act to be conducted within 6 months after the third anniversary of the commencement of this Act.

Without limiting the matters to be covered by the review, the review must:

have regard to the objects of the Act; and

consider the following matters:

the operation of the Statement of Rights and the Statement of Principles;

the effectiveness of the Act in delivering the objects, including enabling individuals to exercise choice and control;

the effectiveness of the Act in embedding the role of supporters in the aged care system;

the extent of unmet demand for funded aged care services in a home or community setting;

the duration of waiting periods from application to service commencement for funded aged care services in a home or community setting;

the expansion of regular reporting on the duration of waiting periods for funded aged care services to cover specialist aged care programs;

the effectiveness of the governance (under Chapter 5) and regulatory mechanisms (under Chapter 6) of the aged care system in overseeing and ensuring the quality of funded aged care services;

the effectiveness of the Act in ensuring equitable access to funded aged care services for individuals, regardless of their location, background and life experience;

the effect of Part 3 of Chapter 4 (about individual fees and contributions) on the sustainability of the aged care system, service usage and outcomes for individuals accessing funded aged care services;

the use of refundable accommodation deposits and daily accommodation payments;

the proportion of aged care accommodation payments being charged at the maximum accommodation payment amounts;

the proportion of registered providers who charge an accommodation payment approved under section 290 (that is, an approved accommodation payment that is higher than the maximum accommodation payment amount);

the quality and timeliness of data published about the performance of the aged care system.

The persons who conduct the review must give the Minister a written report of the review.

The Minister must cause a copy of the report to be tabled in each House of the Parliament within 15 sitting days of that House after the report is given to the Minister.