Support at Home Program
Support at Home is a newly designed, government-funded program set to replace the current Home Care Package (HCP) and Short-Term Restorative Care (STRC) programs in July 2025. The aim of Support at Home is to help aging Australians remain in their homes for longer.
The program is being introduced as a result of findings from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which was established in October 2018.
The Support at Home program is expected to be:
Simpler
More equitable
More accessible with Improved access to services, equipment, and home modifications
Quicker to access, with reduced average wait times
Visualised..
We understand the program as three streams, that operate differently
Short-term pathways
End of Life (EOL) and Restorative pathways (12 week budget)
Short-term supports
Assistive Technology & Home Modifications (ATHM) (12 week budget)
Ongoing supports
Multiple support categories and services (Quarterly budget)
What Might This Change Mean For Your Business?
If your organisation supports clients with supports at home who are funded through the government HCP program, you are affected.
HCP ends on June 30th 2025. From July 1st 2025, serving clients funded through Support at Home will look very different to HCP.
The structure and framework of government-funded programs can have a significant impact on how a business operates. When a program changes or transitions from one construct to another, it is inevitable that:
The way a business operates to service the scheme will change
The systems that businesses use to operate will need to change to suit the program, and
The way a business claims funds will change.
Aurora Help Articles
Our help articles make sense of the Support at Home program. Sign up for full access (free)
Frequently Asked Questions
How does a provider get paid?
Claims are made only against services that are delivered, after they are delivered. A file upload to the portal is the likely path.
Can providers still charge a daily fee?
No, the cost of such fees are now baked into the price of the service. There is no more daily fee, only claiming back post service delivery.
How much can a provider charge?
Although the service list is releases, the associated prices are not. These are expected late November this year.
Do participants have to contribute?
Yes, in part. This new scheme has rules where there are cases where participants will have to contribute. Levels are based on pension status.
What is Care Management?
A set of services ( and funds ) that sit with a participant plan that are there to help fund co-ordination, planning, monitoring & review.
Can a participant save up funds?
Support at home has a feature called Accruals. Some funds can be accumulated with this feature but there are rules and limitations.
Essential Knowledge
Just some of the features of the program that require understanding
Participant Contributions
Service Lists
Price Caps
Budgets and Funding
Ongoing supports will focus on providing long-term assistance for those who require consistent help to remain at home.
This area of the scheme is grouped into three categories, each of the service categories will have their own service types and each service type will have one or more associated services.
The HCP term package levels will be replaced with a new concept called "funding classifications"
There are 8 different classification levels within S@H.
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