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Catholic Health Australia is calling on the Federal Government to defer price caps for the Support at Home aged-care program.
The price caps for each service type, such as nursing care, personal care, domestic assistance and meal support, are due to commence on 1 July 2026.
In a submission to a senate committee hearing on the transition to Support at Home, the peak body representing not-for-profit Catholic providers supported the reforms but warned that rushing ahead with untested price caps could reduce service availability for older Australians.
“These caps are due within months but they haven’t even been finalised, let alone tested in operation,” said Alex Lynch, Director of Aged and Community Care at Catholic Health Australia.
“If the prices are set incorrectly or introduced prematurely, they risk reducing choice for older people, undermining provider viability, constraining service availability and lengthening already strained waitlists – particularly in regional areas and for higher-complexity services.
“We are calling for a sensible 12-month deferral that would allow IHACPA to assess prices while the new system is in operation before imposing the caps.”
Alongside the deferral of price caps, CHA is urging the government to strengthen consumer protections, including setting out a transparent set of actions the Department will take where pricing is deemed unreasonable or not based on actual costs.
CHA is also calling for the government to provide targeted transition support to providers of up to $500 per client.
“Providers need this to cover the unavoidable costs of transition including IT system changes, workforce training and supervision, and the new service agreement and consent processes,” said Mr Lynch.
“This is a modest amount that would minimise the risk of service disruptions for older Australians during the transition period.”
Notes to editors: Catholic Health Australia (CHA) is Australia’s largest non-government, not-for-profit group of health, community, and aged care providers. Our members operate 80 hospitals in each Australian state and the ACT, providing around 30 per cent of private hospital care and 5 per cent of public hospital care, in addition to extensive community and residential aged care. There are 63 private hospitals operated by CHA members, including St Vincent’s, Calvary, Mater, St John of God and Cabrini. CHA members also provide approximately 12 per cent of all aged care facilities across Australia, in addition to around 20 per cent of home care services. 25 per cent of our members’ service provision is regional, rural and remote.
