The Albanese Government's aged care reforms are already delivering with the latest financial outlook showing a sector providing more minutes of care per resident, while recovering to a more stable and sustainable setting.
The latest Aged Care Quarterly Financial Snapshot (QFS) shows the overall financial performance of residential aged care providers improved throughout the 2022-23 financial year. This follows the Albanese Government's immediate introduction of the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) funding model, which came into effect 1 October 2022.
The snapshot shows that residential aged care providers delivered an average of 194 minutes of care per resident per day in the final quarter of 2022-23, an increase of 4 minutes. The Labor Government's 200 mandatory care minutes came into effect from 1 October 2023.
The QFS shows that 70 per cent of residential providers reported positive year-to-date earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), up 1.6 per cent from the previous quarter.
A more sustainable and financially stable aged care sector means better care for older Australians and better conditions for our frontline workers.
The proportion of profitable residential providers has continued to increase, with 49 per cent reporting a year-to-date net profit before tax (up by 0.3 percentage points on the third quarter). This is significantly higher than the first quarter of 2022-23, when only 34 per cent of providers were profitable.
The in-home care sector continued to perform strongly with year-to-date EBITDA increasing to $4.59 per recipient per day, up $0.42 on year-to-date figures for the third quarter.
The year-to-date percentage of profitable home care providers increased, with 74.7 per cent reporting a year-to-date net profit before tax (up from 74.5 per cent in the third quarter).
The snapshot now also reports on wages for aged care workers, with new wage data collected from the fourth quarter of 2022-23 and again in the first quarter of 2023-24.
This will allow the government to monitor implementation of the 15 per cent pay rise and ensure that the wage increases are being passed on to aged care workers.
This is the fourth release of the QFS since Quarterly Financial Reporting began in July 2022, and is a point-in-time snapshot of the financial performance of residential and home care providers, demonstrating the Albanese Government's commitment to enhance transparency in aged care.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Aged Care, Anika Wells:
"When the Albanese Government came into office, the aged care sector was hurting from a lack of investment and innovation but in just 12 months there is now an optimistic outlook for the financial performance of the sector.
"I am particularly pleased to see care minutes increase to 194 minutes for the last quarter of the year, showing that the sector average of 200 care minutes is well within grasp.
"The positive trend seen across the last four Quarterly Financial Snapshots show Labor's reforms to aged care are working.
"Looking ahead, we expect to see continued improvements in the viability of the sector, supported by additional Australian National Aged Care Classification funding.
"Through these reforms we are creating a stable and sustainable sector, that delivers high-quality care that older people can access when and where they need it."
