Insights and News

One year on, has HELF delivered on its promise of greater resident choice, innovation and financial sustainability?

We examine CHSP funding pressures, the distribution of funding across providers, the Auditor-General’s findings and what the extension to 2029 means for the program’s future.

What Treasury’s 2026 Intergenerational Report reveals about aged care funding, rising costs and future demand, and what it means for providers’ long-term planning.

IHACPA’s latest figures highlight the growing financial importance of HELF to the economics of everyday living services.

We look at what has changed in the Higher RAD application process and what this means for provider accommodation strategy.

With care minute underperformance now carrying financial consequences, how much buffer should providers build into their base roster?

Small changes to government subsidies require big changes in the amounts providers charge residents.

We set out the near-term opportunities we see for registered home care providers. 

We’re hosting a webinar with Inside Ageing on 24 September: You’ve updated the policies. Have you updated the business model?

What stays included, what can attract a fee, how to talk to residents with confidence. A practical action plan for transitioning Additional Services and Extra Service Status residents before 31 October 2026.

Providers have less than eleven weeks to transition residents with Additional Services and Extra Services (ESS) arrangements before those arrangements cease.

Most funding teams don't have a capability problem. They have a capacity problem.

The care an aged care home delivers today is often more complex than the funding attached to it. One of the most common funding issues we see is not incorrect care, but funding that no longer reflects the care being delivered.

HELF uptake: What are high-performing homes doing differently?

The first Wait Times Report under the Aged Care Act 2024 revealed the timing mechanism with implications for aged care providers.

We’ve outlined what the Budget confirmed, what it left unresolved and the implications for operational and strategic decisions over the coming quarter.

The accommodation recommendations have arrived. They paint the clearest picture yet of the path to sustainable sector growth.

The HCP experience holds useful lessons for how providers and policymakers approach capped pricing under Support at Home.

We’re hosting a webinar with Inside Ageing on 21 May: Webinar: Aged Care Viability - Three Decisions That Can't Wait

What We’re Seeing on Liquidity, Pricing, and Financial Standards Under the New Act

We’re hosting a 2-part webinar series with Ageing Australia:
Transitioning from CHSP to Support at Home

The recent Opal HELF coverage has reignited debate about TVs in aged care. The real issue is not whether TVs should be provided, but who should fund non-care services in a system designed to fund care.

Accommodation pricing is often treated as a market question. In practice, it is a capital decision that shapes an organisation’s capital position for years.

We’re hosting a webinar with Inside Ageing on 12 March: First 100 Days of Higher Everyday Living Fees
 

Televisions have been a hot topic well before 1 November and have continued to be a focal point for debate, stimulating many conversations around what should be standard and what is a HELF service.

We’re hosting a SaH growth 2-part webinar series with Ageing Australia: Organic Growth and M&A
 

Executive teams and boards are asking: Where are the real growth opportunities? 

As 2025 closes, residential aged care providers are navigating a renewed regulatory environment in accommodation pricing.

We’re hosting a workshop with Paynters and TSA Riley on 27 November on Aged Care Capital Projects and Capital Management. 

Each round offers a limited opportunity to fund new or improved infrastructure - but only the best-prepared applications succeed.

The greater the Minimum Liquidity Amount, the more equity is required - increasing pressure on ROE and reducing residential aged care investability.

We’re hosting a webinar with Inside Ageing on 6 November: Liquidity Management – Simple or Effective?
 

We outline the disciplined pathway from compliance to growth — and why M&A should be a destination, not a starting point.

Join our free webinar with Hall & Wilcox on 9 October: Helping you navigate the new Aged Care Rules - Building stronger incidents and complaints governance
 

Katrina Ong's retirement

There has been much press about the elevated level of M&A activity in the residential aged care sector in recent months. Does this elevated activity mean providers are shunning new developments? If so, why?

We explore how embedding HELF into reform transition planning enables providers to align with strengthened Standards, support genuine resident choice, and build a sustainable, person-centred service model under the new Aged Care Act.

We’re hosting a webinar with Inside Ageing on September 2 (rescheduled from June 12): HELF – prepare to operationalise the new legislation.

The transition to care minute targets has reshaped how providers must approach rostering. What used to be a loose directive to “just meet the target” is now a more exacting challenge: Meet it precisely. Meet it sustainably.

Join our webinar with Ageing Australia on 12 August: Navigating Aged Care Costs and Supporting Affordability under the New Aged Care Act

We explore why accommodation pricing has become a critical issue for aged care governance - highlighting the risks of underpricing, the financial cost of excess RAD, and practical steps providers can take to align pricing with capital needs and consumer value.

Join our webinar with Hall & Wilcox on 5 August: Helping you navigate the new Aged Care Rules

In this year’s review, we reflect on our growth, new leadership, and where we’re heading in FY26 as we continue supporting providers to navigate reform and deliver better outcomes.

Here are nine areas we recommend focusing on to strengthen your position ahead of the transition to Support at Home.

Pride Aged Living – Announcement
A new leadership structure for continued growth

We’re hosting a webinar with Inside Ageing on 24 July: Strategy in the New Age – Care – Act now.

We explore how providers can make the most of the delay by resetting the tempo of change, supporting fatigued teams, and maintaining momentum toward long-term reform.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you are acutely aware that July 1, 2025, marks the start date of the new Aged Care Act.

With the removal of Additional and Extra Services, the introduction of Higher Everyday Living Fees, and RAD retentions, this case study explores which approach delivers the best outcome with the least risk.

Financial changes are coming for providers. With new rules impacting liquidity and funding, operators who act now to strengthen their financial management frameworks will avoid unnecessary surprises.

We highlight a key issue emerging consistently from the pricing reviews we’ve undertaken for providers.

While the threshold for higher RADs increased from $550,000 to $750,000, providers are still at risk of complacency when resetting their accommodation pricing. We highlight some key areas for providers to focus on.

We’re hosting a webinar with Inside Ageing on April 10: Navigating Compliance Risks Under the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards.

We break down the key differences between the November 2023 and February 2025 draft releases, helping you understand what these updates mean for you and how to prepare for the upcoming transition.

We are getting great insight into what concerns people the most about the upcoming operational and compliance changes from Additional Services (AS) to Higher Everyday Living Fee (HELF). 

Since the Support at Home program was proposed in January 2022, we’ve considered its impact on key stakeholders. In this Insight, we explore how cost controls—particularly hourly rate caps—could shape flexibility, client choice, and overall expenditure.

Building on the success of our 2024 webinar series, Pride Aged Living and Inside Ageing will host five webinar workshops throughout 2025 to support aged care providers in preparing for the changes introduced by the new Aged Care Act.

We break down the StewartBrown ACFPS September 2024 results to provide our followers with a clear set of priorities if you want to shift from your current quartile to a higher one.

We’re hosting a webinar with ACCPA (soon to be Ageing Australia) on February 13: Unpacking Accommodation and Higher Everyday Living Fee (HELF) Charges

In this third and final insight, we focus on how the transition to HELF aligns with food, drink, dining experiences, and lifestyle activities under Standards 6 and 7.

Now that the dust has settled on the home care reform announcements, it is an opportune time to sit back and ask ourselves what strategic issues are contained therein.

We’re hosting a webinar with Inside Ageing on December 5: Pricing strategies for the new $750,000 RAD threshold.

As the sector grapples with inconsistent methodologies for setting accommodation prices, we are seeing greater interest in understanding how to establish and maintain a reliable pricing methodology.