Support at Home and personal alarms: how the provider buys it from AT funding

What Support at Home is

Support at Home is the Australian Government's in-home aged care program. It replaced Home Care Packages and the Short-Term Restorative Care Programme, and it is the program a person joins after a My Aged Care assessment finds they need ongoing help at home. Funding is paid to a provider the person chooses, and the provider delivers or buys the services and equipment in the person's plan.

Alongside the ongoing services, Support at Home carries a separate stream for equipment: the Assistive Technology and Home Modifications Scheme. This is the part that matters for a personal alarm. It is funded separately from the plan's service budget, and it has its own list of what can be bought, its own tiers and its own paperwork.

If the wearer had a Home Care Package before the change, they moved to Support at Home with their funding, and any unspent package funds carried across. Those funds can be used for assistive technology in the same way. That is the unspent Home Care Package funds question, and the answer is the same paperwork as on this page.

Where a personal alarm sits on the list

The scheme publishes a list of the assistive technology it will fund, organised by ISO category. Personal alarms sit under signalling, alarming and localisation, as personal emergency alarm systems. That is the line item a provider looks for, and it is the description we print on every Support at Home quote and invoice.

The list marks personal alarms as prescribed, and it describes that as a recommendation and a guide rather than a hard rule. In practice most providers want an occupational therapist's recommendation before they approve an alarm, and a written recommendation makes approval quicker. We can help arrange an OT, and if the wearer already has one, the referrals form produces our quote for them within a minute.

The list also settles a question families ask: the SIM. A SIM card is fundable when it is sold as part of the product, which is how SOS Everywhere is sold. The pendant or watch includes 12 months of SIM service, so the quote has one device line rather than a device and a separate telephone charge.

The tiers, and where the price lands

The scheme funds assistive technology in three tiers, each covering a 12-month period: a low tier of $500, a medium tier of $2,000 and a high tier of $15,000. The plan says which tier the person has. A provider can also charge an administration fee on assistive technology of 10 per cent of the item, capped at $500.

Here is the check families and care managers make. Add the provider's 10 per cent fee to the price of the alarm, and an alarm priced near $500 can go over the low tier. A plan with a medium or high tier covers a personal alarm with room to spare. A plan on the low tier may need the provider to seek the medium tier, or the participant may pay the difference, so ask the provider for the full cost, fee included, before the order goes in.

We do not promise a tier and we do not promise approval. The provider applies the scheme's rules to the plan in front of them, and the scheme decides.

What the provider needs from us

Providers buy from the scheme's funding and claim it back, so they need documents that fit the claim. We produce three, and each one goes by a secure link, never as an attachment.

The quote comes first. It names the item as the list describes it, the ISO category, the price including GST, the 24/7 monitoring line if you chose it, and how long the quote stands. The care manager approves it inside the plan.

The invoice follows once the provider gives the go-ahead. It carries our legal name and ABN, the same lines as the quote, the GST, the participant's My Aged Care ID, and the bank details for a transfer. Providers pay on invoice, and we set it up and ship it once the invoice is approved.

The delivery record comes last. When the alarm is delivered, the invoice's link goes to the provider again with the delivery date, and the order's status shows delivered. That pair is what the provider keeps for the claim. Nobody gets a courier tracking link, on purpose: the record of delivery is the delivered status and the invoice, and that is what the scheme's paperwork wants.

One honesty note. Some of the scheme's codes for the monitoring line and for the pendant's add-ons are still being verified with the scheme. Until they are, a quote or invoice that carries one of those lines is held for us to check before it goes out, and we tell the provider when it has been sent.

The prescription, and who writes it

A prescription for a personal alarm is short. It says who the wearer is, why they need a way to call for help, and that a personal emergency alarm system meets that need. An occupational therapist writes it after a home visit or a video assessment. The provider attaches it to the approval.

If there is no OT yet, tell us when you order and we will help arrange one. If the wearer's provider has its own OT, ask them first; it is usually the fastest path. Our page on what happens when the button is pressed helps an OT describe the device in the recommendation, and fall detection's limits gives them the honest line about what the sensor can and cannot do. No fall detector catches every fall.

What is funded and what is not

The device with its 12 months of SIM service is the line the scheme's list describes. The 24/7 monitoring add-on prints as its own line, and the pendant's belt clip and arm band print as theirs. Whether the provider funds the extra lines is the provider's decision under the scheme's rules. Renewal in year two is the same conversation a year later: the provider can pay the renewal invoice from the plan, or the family can name themselves as the renewal payer when they order.

What the scheme will not do is fund an alarm for someone who is not in Support at Home. If the wearer has not been assessed, start with My Aged Care, and read about CHSP through Indigo's geat2GO platform, which is where a person with a referral but no plan is usually sent.

How to start

Ring the care manager and say this: "We want a personal alarm funded as assistive technology under the plan. The item is a personal emergency alarm system. Can you tell me the AT tier and whether you want an OT recommendation first?" Then ask the provider to order SOS Everywhere for the wearer, or leave your details on the through your provider page and we'll pass you to one. The quote goes to the provider, the invoice follows their approval, and we set it up and ship it once it's paid. If you are the OT or the provider, the referrals form is the shorter path, and the pendant and watch pages have the specifications your recommendation may need.