The Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) assessment and funding model for residential aged care (RAC) was introduced on 1 October 2022, replacing the previous ACFI assessment. To facilitate an easy transition to the AN-ACC model, everyone living in a government-funded RAC facility (excluding residents in palliative care) had an AN-ACC 'shadow' assessment over the 12 months to March 2022. This ‘shadow assessment period’ ran alongside the ACFI assessment process. AHA was contracted to conduct about 40,000 of these assessments at 400 aged care facilities.

The AN-ACC model is designed to strengthen RAC funding and promote better care for senior Australians by:

• providing independent, accurate, and nationally consistent funding assessments
• removing the administrative burden of the ACFI assessments from aged care providers so they can spend more time providing high-quality and safe care.

AHA was contracted to conduct AN-ACC assessments across Victoria. AHA conducted about 40,000 assessments at 400 aged care facilities in the Western Metropolitan, Eastern Metropolitan, Grampians, Loddon-Mallee, and Gippsland regions of Victoria.

AHA’s assessment team comprised over 40 clinically qualified assessors, all of whom had more than 5 years of experience working in aged care and are committed to working with facility residents and staff respectfully and sensitively.

Further information about the reforms is on the Department of Health website. Department factsheets are also available about the Shadow Assessment Period and about the AN-ACC Funding Model.

AHA has since been engaged to conduct AN-ACC assessments on an ongoing basis at RACs across most regions of Australia.