The Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority (IHACPA)'s first home care costing study will be used to inform the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler, to support pricing for Support at Home.
The 83-page report 'Support at Home Costing Study' was conducted by global management consultants and auditors Ernst & Young on 48 providers across a range of sizes and locations. The report details home care pricing in the 2022 Financial Year, stating care management data was "ambiguous and variable" which challenged the understanding of the true cost.
Interestingly, 26% of home care spending goes towards domestic assistance ($2.8 billion) and 18% to personal care ($1.9 billion), making up 44% of all spending on home care.
- labour accounts for 40% to 60% of total costs in most home care service types.
- highest costs were for allied health and therapeutic services at $122 per hour, followed by specialised support services at $113.
- median price for nursing care was $101 per hour, compared with the national median of $120 per hour as of 31 March 2024.
- personal care was $82 per hour, compared with $72 per hour at 31 March 2024.
- median care management costs were among the lowest of all: $58 per hour.
- assisting with hoarding and squalor had the lowest median cost: $41 per hour.
- transport costs were $44 per trip and and meal delivery had a median unit cost of $12 per service.
Unit costs for Support at Home services were typically higher in areas where clients were mainly from MMM5-MMM7 (remote and very remote) areas, compared with areas where clients were mainly from MMM1-MMM4 (metropolitan and regional) areas.
The study was conducted between March 2023 and February 2024, and focused on the in-home care operations of Home Care, the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, and Short-Term Restorative Care providers.
IHACPA began providing advice about aged care pricing to Government from 1 July 2023. The organisation provided its most recent advice regarding residential aged care to Government in January 2024.