The Department of Health and Aged Care has released the details of contracts valued at close to $1.5 billion awarded to operators to conduct aged care assessments under the new Single Assessment System.
The largest contract, worth more than $226 million, was awarded to Serendipity (WA) Pty Ltd T/A Advanced Personnel Management, one of the largest private sector providers of workplace rehabilitation, consultancy, employment and psychological services in Australia.
Catholic Healthcare, which operates 42 residential aged care homes and provides home care services to around 4,000 older Australians, was awarded a nearly $136 million contract which runs until 30 June 2029.
Catholic Healthcare has been conducting aged are assessments under the Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT) system since 2015.
A spokesperson for Catholic Healthcare told The SOURCE: "Catholic Healthcare supports the Federal Government’s move to a Single Assessment System and is pleased that Aged Care Assessment Services has been selected as one of several providers for the Single Assessment Workforce."
Most contracts commenced on 6 December 2024 and will run until 30 June 2029 or three-and-a-half years.
A Single Assessment System was a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and is aimed at simplifying and improving older people's experience entering the aged care system. The move brings together three workforces: the Regional Assessment Service, which assesses eligibility for the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP), Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACATs), and the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) workforces.
Streamlining aged care assessments was also a recommendation of David Tune's 2017 Aged Care Legislated Review.
Concerns raised in the early days of the Royal Commission about about putting aged care assessment services to tender appear to have been quashed.
In March 2020, the then-Coalition Government backed away from plans to implement a tender process for aged care assessments, after a backlash from the then-Labor Opposition, States and Territories, unions and sector peaks that tendering the services would effectively amount to 'privatisation' of the services.