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OTA Aged Care Act Implementation Survey 2025

Support at Home came into effect on 1 November 2025 replacing Home Care Packages (HCP) and the Short-Term Restorative Care (STRC) programs. A number of changes have been introduced with the new program, and while it is early days in the implementation of the new Aged Care Act, we'd like to hear from you about your experiences on the ground.

OTA is seeking your feedback to understand how new arrangements are affecting your business or role, the sustainability of services, and the impact on the people you support. Your insights will help our advocacy efforts, identification of any unintended consequence, and impacts on the delivery of services by OTs.
We will be doing a pulse survey periodically, to monitor how things are changing as S@H beds down and the impacts become more apparent, or are ironed out.

This survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Your responses will remain confidential and will only be reported in aggregate. If you provide written feedback this may be quoted in full or in part with all identifying information removed.

This survey will close on 25 November, so we can provide an update to the Minister following OTA's meeting with him on 14 November.

If you have any questions about this survey please contact policy@otaus.com.au
1.Which best describes your role?
2.How many full-time equivalent (FTE) occupational therapists work in your organisation?
3.Where do you primarily work with older people (Select all that apply)
4.What are your primary services/client groups? (select all that apply)
5.In which Australian state or territory do you primarily provide services? (select more than 1 if you provide services across states)
6.What best describes your main service region?
7.(Optional) Please enter your town or postcode:
8.For clinicians who work as sole traders or business owners, what proportion of your total revenue currently comes from aged care-funded therapy services?
9.How many clients do you currently provide services to?
10.Have you been able to build a direct and indirect unit price that accurately reflects your costs for delivery of services
11.If you answered no, what is contributing to this difficulty? (eg provider/s interpretation of indicative pricing, reluctance of provider/s to have different unit price for different clients etc). Please provide examples of the problems you are experiencing.
12.Where does the direct hourly price you will have developed best fit in the below ranges?
13.Generally speaking, what % margin are the providers you work with adding to the unit price you have agreed on?
14.If more than 30% what is your estimate of the mark-up?
15.What are your key concerns about your providers' approach to pricing?
16.Have you experienced, or do you anticipate, any of the following impactson your business, since the introduction of home-based aged care reforms?
17.If you have seen a reduction in referrals what do you put this down to?
18.Have you noticed, or do you anticipate, any of the following impacts on the clients you work with, since the introduction of the home-based aged care reforms?
19.Do you have clarity on how to bill for your services?
20.Have you encountered any variation or inconsistency between providers in their invoicing requirements?
21.Are you currently experiencing any delays or non-payment of your invoices by providers?
22.If you answered yes, what do you attribute the non-payment of invoices to?
23.If you are experiencing non-payment of invoices, how much is currently outstanding?
24.How long have you been waiting for payment of invoices?
25.Are you expecting outstanding invoices to be paid
26.Are you being identified as an Associated Provider for any of the providers you work with?
27.If you are an Associated Provider, are you experiencing any difficulties in relation to this change?
28.Are you experiencing any pressure from providers to meet compliance requirements?
29.If you are being asked to meet compliance requirements, what is your estimate of the costs in terms of hours and financial costs, to meet these requirements?
30.Have you made a claim/claims to be reimbursed for these costs
31.If you have made a claim/s, have you been reimbursed for your costs?
32.In relation to AT/HMs are you experiencing any of the following:
33.Do you have any concerns about the AT/HM inclusion list?
34.Last financial year (2024-25) how did your organisation/practice perform financially?
35.Do you think the changes that have been introduced will have an impact on the financial viability of your business
36.Do you expect to stop providing aged care services in the next 12 months due to any of the changes introduced under the new Act?
37.What is the main reason for your decision to stop or reduce providing aged care services?
38.If you are considering reducing or ceasing the provision of aged care services, what actions are you likely to take?
39.(Optional) Please share any additional comments about how the changes being introduced are affecting your practice and the people you support:
40.(Optional) Would you be willing to provide a case study or speak with OTA further about the impact of these changes?
41.If yes, please provide your preferred contact email or phone number: