Submission: IHACPA Consultation Paper on the Pricing Framework for Australian Residential Aged Care Services 2026-27

AHPA reiterates our previous submissions to IHACPA that the current pricing approach to both residential and home aged care:

• fails to take sufficient account of the diversity of types of allied health services in aged care;

• is not based on consistent assessment of actual allied health needs; and

• does not reflect the specific nature of the demands on allied health professionals providing aged care services in diverse contexts.

IHACPA’s consultation focuses on how to support improved provider participation and increased representation in cost collections, but the fundamental problem for allied health is that IHACPA costing is based on what is currently provided, when this is a gross underestimate of what older people actually need. Our submission therefore outlines the failures of the current aged care system’s approach to allied health care and the changes needed to produce realistic costing and pricing that will sustain an allied health market and so provide real access and choice for consumers.’