The Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT) is the tool your assessor uses to record your care needs and circumstances. For ongoing Support at Home, a rules-based calculation uses that information to determine your funding classification, while a separate calculation assigns your priority category. Your assessor doesn’t simply choose a funding level, and a higher classification doesn’t automatically mean a shorter wait.
Key Takeaways
- A rules-based calculation determines your ongoing funding classification.
- A separate calculation assigns your priority category.
- A higher classification doesn’t automatically mean faster funding.
- Specific examples help distinguish what you can do yourself from what others do for you.
- Disagreeing with a decision and reporting changed needs involve different review processes.
Your aged care assessment helps decide two important things: how much ongoing Support at Home funding you’re approved for and how urgently you’re considered for that funding.
Both outcomes are calculated using information your assessor records in the Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT). Your classification sets your approved budget, while your priority category helps determine when that funding may become available.
What Is the Integrated Assessment Tool?
Aged care assessors use the IAT during assessments carried out through the Single Assessment System. It captures information about your health, day-to-day activities, living arrangements and the support you already have.
You don’t need to book a separate IAT assessment or complete a test. It’s simply the tool your assessor uses to guide the conversation and record what you tell them.
The IAT is used across different types of aged care. Here, we’re focusing on ongoing Support at Home funding, rather than residential aged care funding or short-term care pathways.
How Your Funding Level Is Decided
For ongoing home care, the information recorded in the IAT is used to work out whether you’re eligible and, if so, which classification applies.
The outcome may be the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) or one of eight ongoing Support at Home classifications. Each Support at Home (SaH) classification comes with a set funding amount, delivered through quarterly budgets.
If you moved across from a Home Care Package, different funding arrangements may apply. This means not everyone receiving Support at Home will have one of the eight new classifications.
Your assessor uses their professional judgement to assess your needs and record information in the IAT, which incorporates 11 validated health assessment tools. For ongoing Support at Home funding, a rules-based calculation uses specified assessment responses to determine your classification, rather than your assessor simply choosing a funding level.
The calculation looks at three main areas.
1. Your Ability to Manage Everyday Activities
The assessment looks at what you can do on your own and where you need a hand.
That might include showering, getting dressed, preparing meals, shopping, taking medication or moving around. Your answers contribute to the functional ability score used in the calculation.
2. How Much of Your Need Is Met
It also looks at whether you’re currently getting the help you need.
For example, needing help with shopping is one thing. Having that need met because a family member buys your groceries every week is another. The calculation takes both your need and the support available to you into account.
3. Other Factors Affecting Your Needs
Other clinical and social factors can also affect the result. These include cognition, continence, frailty, social isolation, anxiety, depression and whether help from family or others is available and likely to continue.
This helps the calculation distinguish between people who may have similar abilities but very different care needs and circumstances.
How Your Priority Is Decided
A separate calculation uses your assessment information to place you in a priority category for ongoing Support at Home funding.
There are four possible categories:
- Urgent
- High
- Medium
- Standard
Your particular circumstances are taken into account, including whether you live alone, have cognitive impairment, are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, are homeless or at risk of homelessness, urgently need services, have motor neurone disease or meet certain waiting-time and location criteria.
Your priority category helps determine the order in which funding is allocated. The date you were approved matters too.
This is why a higher funding classification doesn’t automatically mean a shorter wait. Your classification and priority are separate, and allocation also depends on when funding is available.
You also won’t be given a fixed number in a queue or a guaranteed date for your funding.
Why Your Recorded Answers Matter
Because these calculations rely on what’s recorded during your assessment, the examples you give can make a real difference.
For instance, saying “I manage my medication” sounds quite different from explaining that your daughter fills your medication organiser and calls each evening to remind you to take it.
Before your assessment, it can help to think about:
- What you can do independently
- Where you need help, supervision or reminders
- How often you need that assistance
- Whether your abilities vary from day to day
- What family members, friends or paid carers currently do
- Whether that help can continue
- What has changed since your previous assessment, if you’ve had one
Try to describe what life is usually like, including any good days and bad days. The goal is to give an accurate picture of your needs, not to guess the score or aim for a particular classification.
For more help getting ready, see our Single Assessment System guide and our article on making the care you give visible in an aged care assessment.
What to Check After Your Assessment
Your assessment outcome letter (also called a Notice of Decision) sets out what you’ve been approved for. If you’re approved for ongoing Support at Home, check the funding classification, priority category and approved services.
Keep in mind that approval doesn’t mean the funding is ready straight away. When it is allocated, you’ll receive a separate funding allocation letter.
If anything in the outcome is unclear, contact the assessment organisation using the details in your letter.
If You Disagree with the Decision
If you disagree with the decision, you or your Registered Supporter can ask for an internal review. The details of how to request a review will be in your assessment outcome letter and you need to do this within 28 days of receiving your Notice of Decision.
If Your Needs Change
If your needs or circumstances change after the assessment, you may need a Support Plan Review. That’s different from requesting a review because you believe the original decision was wrong.
Our Support Plan Reviews guide explains when to ask for one and what may happen next.
While You Wait for Funding
How long you wait depends on your priority category, approval date and the funding available. For people in the standard priority category, My Aged Care currently estimates a wait of seven to eight months from the access approval start date in their assessment outcome letter.
This is a guide, not a guaranteed timeframe. To receive an allocation through the ongoing Support at Home Priority System, you also need to be recorded as actively seeking services
Our Support at Home Wait Times guide explains more about how allocation works.
If you’re offered interim funding, you’ll start with 60% of your approved amount. Our interim funding guide explains what that means when you’re arranging services.
When Your Funding Is Allocated
When your funding allocation letter arrives, you have 56 days from the date on the letter to sign a service agreement and begin services. If you need more time, you can ask My Aged Care for a 28-day extension.
For a step-by-step guide, read You’ve Been Assigned Support at Home Funding.
You don’t have to wait until then to start comparing providers.
Compare Support at Home Providers
Once you know what support you’ve been approved for, you can start looking for Support at Home provider that suits you.
Aged Care Decisions can prepare a free Provider Options Report based on your care needs, location and preferences, so you can compare suitable Support at Home providers. Our service is 100% free for families and you are under no obligation to choose a provider from our report.
Get your free Provider Options Report
Does My Assessor Choose My Funding Level?
Not directly. Your assessor records information about your needs and circumstances in the IAT. A rules-based calculation then uses particular responses to work out your ongoing classification.
That’s why it helps to give clear, specific details during the assessment.
Does a Higher Funding Level Mean I'll Receive Funding Sooner?
No. Your classification sets the size of your approved budget.
When you receive funding depends on your priority category, approval date and when funding becomes available. A higher classification on its own won’t move you ahead.
Can I Check My Exact Queue Position?
No. Your assessment outcome gives you a priority category, not a fixed number in a queue.
It also can’t guarantee the date your funding will be available.
Is the IAT a Financial Assessment?
No. The IAT is about your care needs and circumstances—not your income or assets.
Any contribution you make towards services is calculated separately through a means assessment by Centrelink.
Does the IAT Set Residential Aged Care Funding?
No. The IAT can help determine whether you’re eligible for residential aged care, but it doesn’t decide how much funding an aged care home receives for your care.
That funding is worked out after you move in, through a separate Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) assessment.
Here’s how Aged Care Decisions’ FREE aged care matching service works:
