Manage aged care service details 065-13070020

The Multi-Purpose Service (MPS) program provides health and aged care services in rural and regional areas that cannot support both a hospital and a separate residential aged care service. This allows people to stay in their own communities as they get older and be close to their families and community ties.

If a government-subsidised residential aged care service converts to an MPS, the service will cease to be eligible for residential aged care subsidy. The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing notifies Services Australia about these service conversions as part of the service closure process.

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing notifies Services Australia when an aged care service receives approval for a variation to its allocation of approved places. For residential care services, this information is automatically received via the Government Provider Management System (GPMS) to the Aged Care Staff Portal (ACSP).

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing can update the Aged Care Staff Portal with the variation to approved places for residential care in the event that the interface is experiencing outages and manual intervention is required.

The Seniors and Ageing Branch update the Aged Care Staff Portal with the variation to approved places for transition care and short term restorative care (pre 1 November 2025) through notification received manually (for example, email) from the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

From 1 November 2025 ‘approved places’ will be allocated as ‘operational beds’.

From 27 February 2017, Increasing Choice in Home Care commenced. The allocation of approved places within the Aged Care Approvals Round (ACAR) process ceased for home care. Approved places for a home care service applied up to and inclusive of the February 2017 claim month.

Changes effective from 1 November 2025

A registered provider will be required to meet obligations under the new aged care regulatory model based on the type of services they deliver.

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission is responsible for determining a provider’s registration to deliver aged care services. Providers will be able to vary their registration, including additional categories, by submitting a form to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC).

The registration and renewal process applies to all providers delivering Australian Government-funded aged care including:

• Residential aged care services
• Home Care Packages Program (to be replaced by Support at Home)
• Short-Term Restorative Care Programme (to be replaced by Support at Home)
• Transition Care Program

The registration and renewal process replaces:

• residential aged care home accreditation
• home care provider quality reviews

The model has universal provider registration – a single registration for each provider across all aged care programs. This reduces the administrative burden on providers.

Providers delivering multiple services (such as home care and residential aged care), only need to register once and for all the registration categories.  

Registration is time-limited in the model. Each provider’s ongoing suitability to deliver aged care services is reviewed regularly, providing greater assurance services on offer are of high quality.  

The standard registration period for providers is 3 years. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) may specify a shorter or longer period, depending on certain factors.

New providers access the registration process through the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing’s Government Provider Management System (GPMS) portal. Existing providers of aged care services are not required to undertake the new registration process and will instead be automatically deemed (Deeming) into the registration categories based on the services they are delivering.

Changes effective from 1 November 2025

Approved places ended on 31 October 2025 and registered providers are no longer allocated approved places to provide residential care. Instead, registered providers notify the number of operational beds available at their facility when they register with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) to deliver residential aged care.

From 1 November 2025, residential aged care ‘places’ are allocated directly to older people who access government-funded residential care services, giving them more choice and control.

Registered providers are required to meet the obligations under the aged care legislation and regulations based on the type of services they deliver.

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission is responsible for determining a provider’s registration to deliver aged care services. Providers will be able to vary their registration, including additional categories, by submitting a form to the ACQSC.

Providers notify the number of operational beds available at their facility when they register with the ACQSC to deliver residential aged care. Providers use the self-service portal functionality in the Government Provider Management System (GPMS), via MyAgedCare to maintain their operational bed count (places). Changes that result in an adjustment to payment of government subsidies are applied.

Note: managing approved places in the ACSP was available until 31 October  2025. From 1 November 2025, Service Officers can only view operational beds in the ACSP.

Aged care providers may become bankrupt or insolvent if they are unable to repay debts. These include aged care providers that are in voluntary administration, liquidation or receivership.

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing notifies Services Australia about aged care providers that are under administration. Services Australia will undertake the necessary process to ensure the government aged care subsidies are paid correctly.

Aged care services must notify the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission of changes to authorised contact and organisation details. This ensures aged care services receive important notifications and correspondence. This must be completed within 28 days of the change occurring.

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing notifies Services Australia of aged care services that are closing. Services Australia will undertake the necessary process to ensure the government aged care subsidies are paid correctly. See New, combine, sales, closure and transfer processes for aged care services for more information.

See New, combine, sales, closure and transfer processes for aged care services for more information on transferring a service in aged care.

The System for the Payment of Aged Residential Care (SPARC) is the legacy aged care payment system for residential care. SPARC is a view only system from 11 August 2022 and was decommissioned in 2023.

To view the legacy SPARC process, see the historical version.

The Aged Care Management Payment System (ACMPS) was the previous system used for managing Service Approved places for transition care and short-term restorative care (STRC). Service Approved places create, update and delete functionality was switched to view only from 16 June 2023.

To view the previous ACMPS process, see the historical version.