Govt’s MMM review makes 15 aged care recommendations

The Government has released the Final Report on its review of the Modified Monash Model (MMM), the tool used to allocate rural, regional and remote aged care funding.

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing found the MMM is “an appropriate tool for the aged care context” with “broad support” in the sector for its continued use.

However, MMM does have several limitations, the report says, and proposes 15 recommendations. Three recommendations stood out to The Weekly SOURCE:

• Ensure the most up-to-date version of the MMM is used across aged care programs and policies (the latest version has only been used consistently since 1 November 2025);
• Consider developing of an aged care ‘priority areas’ list to be published and reviewed annually to complement (or use) the MMM; and
• Conduct analysis to determine factors other than remoteness (eg. demographics, access to health services, liveability), which may affect service delivery costs in regional, rural, and remote (RRR) locations in aged care settings.

For the complete list of recommendations, see the full report here.

The purpose of the review?

The review was a recommendation of the Aged Care Taskforce Final Report, and commenced in early 2025.

The review was intended to assess if the MMM is an appropriate tool to target funding for aged care service delivery in RRR areas around Australia.

Consultation conducted as part of the review, outlined in the The Consultation Summary Report, published August 2025, found the sector views the MMM as “useful but limited” and, in its current form, “not fit for purpose” for aged care.

What’s next?

Outcomes from the review will be progressed through the Government’s new RRR aged care policy framework and workplan, which is aimed at addressing the challenges of aged care service delivery in RRR Australia.

What is the MMM?

The MMM has been used in aged care since 2017. The Government uses the MMM to help it define if a location is metropolitan, rural, remote or very remote, and to calculate how to allocate funding and resources.

In December 2025, the MMM was used across 21 programs and policies in residential aged care and six programs in home care.

The MMM was first used by Government in 2015. The model has since been updated three times, in 2015, 2019, and 2023. Historically, not all programs have used the latest MMM. However, since 1 November 2025, all aged care programs apply the MMM 2023 version.