Conservatively estimated, 92 percent of people living in Australian residential aged care facilities could benefit from palliative care.^[1] Yet in June 2023 just 0.1% of those in residential aged care had entered under Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) Class 1, in order to receive planned palliative care.^[2] This extremely low uptake, relative to identified need, suggests the AN-ACC classification model is not yet working as intended to appropriately cost and support the care of those with high needs resulting from an advanced palliative diagnosis. Outside of AN-ACC Class 1, the palliative care and end-of-life care needs of people living in residential aged care remain ill-defined in the pricing model as it currently operates. This hinders progress toward an appropriate pricing framework for quality end-of-life and palliative care in residential aged care. It also contributes to difficulty identifying palliative care and end-of-life care activity at the system level in residential aged care.

This submission identifies opportunities to improve how the AN-ACC framework supports and incentivises palliative care in residential aged care, including:

• Reviewing the pricing framework to ensure it supports equitable and timely provision of palliative care and end-of-life care
• Introducing a new funding class for people who require palliative care after they enter residential aged care
• Expanding current restrictive eligibility criteria for AN-ACC Class 1, Entry for Palliative Care
• Administrative changes to expedite the application process for AN-ACC Class 1

IHACPA Residential Aged Care Pricing Framework 2025-26 PCA Submission