Assessment outcome: Aged care home
If you are eligible to move into an aged care home (also known as residential aged care), the assessment organisation will send you an assessment outcome letter (sometimes called a 'Notice of Decision').
The letter will contain:
- the decision on your eligibility
- the services you are eligible to receive
- the reasons and evidence supporting the decision
- a copy of your support plan which will contain the referral codes for services.
If you haven’t received your assessment outcome letter, find out what to do while you wait.
If you are an older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person, an Elder Care Support worker could help on each step of the assessment process and throughout your aged care journey.
What to do next
Receiving your assessment outcome letter is an important step. You can now start to look at the costs involved and find an aged care home that meets your needs.
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Understand the costs
There are various types of fees you may be asked to pay for care in an aged care home. You will be expected to contribute to the cost of your care and accommodation if you can afford to.To find out exactly what you will need to pay, you need to have a means assessment. This assessment takes time, so the sooner you start the process, the better.
You can read more about costs on the aged care home costs and fees page.
You can also use the aged care home fee estimator to understand the different fee types and calculate how much you might have to pay.
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Find an aged care home
You can ask your assessor to refer you to an aged care home, or you can refer yourself.If you choose to refer yourself, you will need the referral code in your support plan. A referral code is your unique reference number for receiving services.
You give the referral code to your chosen provider. If you lose your code, you can log in to your My Aged Care Online Account to see it. With the code, a provider can view your client record, accept the referral and start organising services for you.
You can find aged care homes by using the Find a provider tool or by calling My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 for guidance. You can use the filter in the Find a provider tool to match your preferences, including cultural, language and spiritual needs.
When using the tool, you will see an aged care home’s Star Ratings. These will help you compare the safety and quality of services. Aged care homes get a rating between 1 and 5 stars across key areas of care. More stars mean a aged care home provides higher quality care.
If you want to get services through a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program (NATSIFACP) home, you can contact a provider directly if there is one near you. Find out more about NATSIFACP.
Check out our step-by-step guide to selecting the best age care home.
If you are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person, an Elder Care Support worker could help you at each step of your aged care journey, including selecting an aged care home that is right for you.
Keeping track of next steps
The My guide to aged care tool will help create a ‘next steps’ checklist tailored for you.