Aged Care Minister Defends Algorithm Amidst Human Override Debate

The Aged Care Minister has refused to admit there is no human override in the final step of the government’s new algorithm for assessing older people for at-home funding support, in a tense interview exchange.

Despite the government ordering an urgent review of the algorithm-assisted tool, Sam Rae strongly defended the "much improved" system as leading to faster and more equitable decisions for people seeking access to a Support at Home package.

The Integrated Assessment Tool is used to determine the level of government funding a person should get and the priority they should be given.

But it has come under heavy scrutiny, and been subject to hundreds of complaints, because while assessors input information about the person into the tool, it uses an algorithm to decide the outcome, which cannot be overruled.

But when pressed on the process, Mr Rae refused to agree there was no ability for human intervention after the algorithm had determined the outcome because humans were involved in inputting and reviewing data.

"It's done in a standardised way," he told Radio National Breakfast, in support of the new process.

"There is a mathematical component, that's the nature of a process. An algorithm is just a process. There is a process by which the aged care rules are applied. That's an automated process.

"The subjective piece, if you like, is the assessment piece – that's the piece that captures the needs of the older person.

"The objective piece is the application of the rules – that's the part that's standardised".

He insisted the decision was not made to save money, but because it led to faster and fairer assessments.

Mr Rae pointed to more than 130,000 assessments done in the March quarter of this year.

"Median wait times are down under a month consistently, so people aren't waiting as long and we're getting much fairer outcomes," he said.

Labor has faced widespread criticism for the extensive wait lists for both assessment and funding approval.

People have been forced to wait a year for help, with cases of some even dying while waiting.

"We think the integrated assessment tool is a significant improvement on the previous assessment system, but I'm not satisfied with the prioritisation mechanism," Mr Rae said, which has prompted the urgent three-month review.

It was revealed during a Senate Estimates hearing this week that about 1,000 people had requested a review of their assessment decision.

Of the 606 finalised cases, 132 were deemed to require reassessment.

Health department officials also revealed there was no consultation with providers or advocates before deciding to remove human oversight from the assessment tool.

Secretary Blair Comley also told senators that while a prototype of the tool was trialled in 2023, the algorithm currently in use was not part of that trial, although he argued that was because the algorithm was refined throughout a trial process.

"I wouldn't like to create an impression that there's a massive disconnect between the final algorithm and all the work that was done on the validation process," he said.

Earlier this week, Independent Senator David Pocock told a Senate committee about a case of a man who was visually impaired and couldn’t see his medication, but because he could find his way to the toilet at home, he was found to need a lower package.

While the man awaited reassessment, his daughter took leave from work and moved in with her dad to help him.

Officials acknowledged that case was “terrible” but questioned whether the assessment was done properly.