Stephen Cull
Policy Officer, Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority
Biography
Stephen Cull is a Policy Officer within the Support at Home Aged Care Policy Team at IHACPA. His background is in molecular biology and functional genomics, having previously worked in histopathology, cardiac research, and motor neuron disease research. He holds a Bachelor of Science and Honours in Medical Science. He is currently completing his Master of Science in Precision Medicine with the University of Oxford.
IHACPA’s Approach to Aged Care Reform and Pricing Development for the Support at Home Program
In response to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, the Commonwealth Government (the Government) announced a range of reforms across the aged care sector. The reforms included expansion of the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority (IHACPA) to take on the role of providing independent advice to the Government on costing and pricing of government subsidised aged care services. This role will enable aged care funding, to be directly informed by the actual costs of delivering care and services.
IHACPA’s established role in pricing relies on a consultative, transparent, and evidence based approach. IHACPA is committed to these principles in developing independent aged care costing and pricing advice. The aged care work program will involve annual public consultation and refinement of an aged care pricing framework based on stakeholder feedback. IHACPA will also undertake costing studies and analyse publicly available aged care financial data in formulating its annual pricing advice.
The Government is developing a new program for in-home aged care which will consolidate existing in-home aged care programs. In June 2023 the Government convened an Aged Care Taskforce (the Taskforce) to review funding arrangements for aged care and develop options for developing an aged care system that is fair and equitable. The taskforce is expected to deliver its recommendations, including for the Support at Home program, by December 2023. Final program details are expected to be available by mid-2024.
IHACPA will commence developing its first Pricing Framework for Australian Support at Home Aged Care Services 2025-2026 (the Pricing Framework) in early 2024 and undertake public consultation in mid-2024. The Pricing Framework is the key policy document which will underpin IHACPA’s approach to providing annual costing and pricing advice for in-home aged care services. The Pricing Framework will incorporate the pricing principles and the key challenges for aged care costing and pricing and outline a long-term vision for the refinement of aged care costing and pricing over time.
IHACPA will discuss the plans for the Towards a Pricing Framework for Australian Support at Home Aged Care Services 2025-2026 public consultation paper in 2024 and the process of development of pricing advice for the program commencing on 1 July 2025.