Ombudsman investigates aged care Integrated Assessment Tool
The Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT) has faced mounting criticism since the new Aged Care Act came into effect on 1 November 2025.
In the five months since, there have been 834 requests to review IAT decisions, compared with 170 across FY25, a nearly five-fold increase. Reviews can take up to 90 days.
Concerns about the tool have also been growing.
Adrian Morgan, General Manager of Queensland home care provider Flexi Care, told The Weekly SOURCE earlier this year the tool is producing “bizarre” outcomes. Existing Support at Home customers regularly report being reassessed for lower levels of care, despite their care needs increasing.
A paper by the Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine (ANZSGM), the peak body for geriatricians, last week said the IAT risks under-identifying frailty, vulnerability and clinical complexity and called for an urgent review.
Following The Weekly SOURCE’s coverage on the IAT, the issue is also attracting wider media attention. Recent reporting by the ABC, News Corporation, and The Guardian has highlighted problems with the IAT.
Concerns over removal of human oversight
Further controversy has focused on the Government’s decision to remove human oversight for IAT determines on Support at Home, while retaining oversight for other pathways, including residential aged care.
At a recent hearing for the Support at Home Senate Inquiry, Greg Pugh, First Assistant Secretary, Reform Implementation Division, with the Department of Health, Disability and Aged Care, confirmed it had modelled reinstating the manual override function.
Commonwealth Ombudsman investigated robodebt scandal
A spokesperson for the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s office told The Weekly SOURCE: “The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman has received complaints about and has commenced an investigation into the use of the Integrated Assessment Tool.
“However, we conduct our investigations in private and will only comment further when the investigation has been completed or substantially progressed.”
The role of the Commonwealth Ombudsman is to resolve complaints about Australian Government agencies and make recommendations for improvement. The Office has the power to compel Government agencies to provide evidence.
The Office has previously investigated major Government failures involving automated decision making, including robodebt, which involved the unlawful automation of Government debt recovery, and JobSeeker, the automated cancelling of Government payments.
In 2024, Commonwealth Ombudsman Iain Anderson issued a Public Statement claiming Star Ratings are not “sufficiently meaningful” to help people make informed decisions about aged care services. The Office continues to monitor Star Ratings.
