Aged care star ratings: Good but can do better

Greater transparency and accountability were two of the most desired outcomes of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.

A star ratings system introduced in December 2022 for aged care homes to provide simple, reliable information about the quality of care has been followed by a new Dollars to Care measure to highlight how much is spent on food and care.

Both could be valuable tools to help people make an informed choice when seeking a well-run and compliant aged care home.

It is hoped that providers of aged care services will also see the publicly available measures as an incentive to improve the way they run – lifting the overall bar for aged care.

However, fifteen months after the introduction of a star ratings system for aged care homes, questions are being asked about the validity of the data used to formulate key performance areas – mostly because it comes unchecked from the providers themselves.

How the star ratings work

Following the recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, the star ratings are designed to give future and existing residents and their families a valuable way to compare and monitor different facilities based on four key subcategories:

• Resident experience 
• Staffing levels 
• Compliance
• Quality measures

Each measure is given a different weighting and an overall star rating is then calculated and published on the My Aged Care website.

How a provider rates in each of the subcategories will lead to an overall star rating with:

• One star indicating significant improvement needed 
• Two stars indicating improvement needed 
• Three stars indicating an acceptable quality of care 
• Four stars indicating a good quality of care
• Five stars rating indicating an excellent quality of care.