Controversial Aged Care Algorithm Lacks Legal Oversight, Inquiry Reveals
Senate inquiry hears no legal basis for human override of algorithm determining elderly Australians' care funding, despite government banning assessors from doing so.
Controversial aged care assessment tool used to determine funding for elderly Australians lacks any legal basis for human oversight, a Senate inquiry has heard. The Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT), launched in November 2026 as part of the aged care Support at Home reforms, is an algorithm-driven system that assesses eligibility and assigns funding levels for care services.
Shockingly, government assessors are currently banned from overriding the algorithm's determinations, despite the fact that there appears to be no legal prohibition on a human reviewer intervening. The Department of Health and Aged Care has revealed that it has received 834 requests for reviews of the IAT's assessments since its introduction.
Source: The Guardian
