All 11,383 claims submitted for COVID-19 grants have been assessed, with the $140 million not already paid out expected to be paid “shortly”, Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells told the Aged & Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA) conference last week.

Almost $850 million has already been paid out, taking the total amount paid out to aged care providers to cover the approved costs of managing outbreaks in residential aged care to $990 million.

“I know it hasn’t been easy. I won’t pretend it will be easy from here,” the Minister said.

Aged care providers have been waiting months for their grant applications to be assessed and paid out.

The Financial Report on the Australian Aged Care Sector 2021-22 revealed that residential aged care providers had self-reported $742 million in COVID-19 grants that had been submitted but not yet approved or paid during the year, hitting the financial performance of the sector that lost on average $32.97 per resident per day.

Last month, the Minister announced that from 1 January 2024 the Government will reduce the amount it will reimburse aged care providers to manage COVID-19 to a standard payment of $940 for all residents.

In Senate estimates last week, Deputy Secretary for Ageing and Aged Care Michael Lye said the payment is intended to “institutionalise” higher infection control standards.

“What we’re trying to do is to make sure that the funded normal BAU operation in residential aged care has IPC excellence at the heart of that and it’s funded day in, day out, and not just because of COVID.

“So, we’re lifting the whole base. So, rather than asking people to say, ‘We’ll give you some money to do something around IPC’, we want IPC to be part of residential aged care’s ordinary operation at a higher level than it was prior to COVID,” he said.