How to Prepare for an Aged Care Assessment Home Visit in Australia

The assessment home visit is the single most consequential appointment in your parent's aged care journey. The classification that comes out of it determines their quarterly funding budget — anywhere from $11,010 to $80,137 per year under the Support at Home program. Underprepare, and your parent may be classified below their actual needs. Overprepare with unrealistic claims, and the assessor will notice.

The goal is accuracy: making sure the assessor sees your parent's real situation, not the polished version they'll instinctively present to a visitor.

What to Gather Before the Visit

Start collecting these at least a week before the scheduled assessment:

Medical documentation:

• Medicare card and pension card (or DVA card if applicable)
• A list of all current medications with dosages and prescribing doctors
• Recent hospital discharge summaries (if any)
• Specialist reports relevant to functional decline — neuropsychological assessments for cognitive concerns, falls clinic reports, occupational therapy home safety assessments

A GP support letter: Contact your parent's GP and request a written summary specifically addressing functional limitations. Ask them to use clinical terminology the Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT) recognises: falls risk level, ADL and IADL impairments, cognitive assessment scores (MMSE or MoCA results), progressive diagnoses with expected trajectory.

Your 7-day functional diary: For the seven days before the assessment, document specific incidents that show your parent's daily challenges. Not generalities — specifics:

• Monday: Dad left the stove burner on for two hours after cooking. Noticed burn mark on tea towel.
• Wednesday: Mum couldn't get out of the bathtub without help. Took 15 minutes to assist her.
• Friday: Dad missed his blood pressure medication for the second time this week.
• Saturday: Mum fell getting out of bed at 3am. No injury, but couldn't get up for 20 minutes.

This diary serves two purposes: it provides the assessor with objective evidence, and it counteracts the natural tendency of older Australians to minimise their difficulties during the visit.

On the Day of the Assessment

Don't tidy up too much. If the bathroom has a towel rail your parent uses as a makeshift grab rail, leave it. If there are scuff marks on the walls from the wheelchair or walker, don't paint over them. The assessor needs to see the home as it actually functions, not as it looks for guests.

Have a support person present. This should be the family member who spends the most time with your parent and can speak to their daily routine with specific examples. The assessor expects a support person — this is normal and encouraged.

Let your parent answer first. The assessor needs to hear from the person being assessed. But if your parent says "Oh, I manage fine with cooking" when the reality is they've been eating toast and biscuits for weeks, wait for a natural pause and respectfully provide context: "Dad, do you want to tell them about Tuesday when the smoke alarm went off?" The assessor will appreciate the additional information.

Don't stage difficulties. Assessors are experienced health professionals. They can distinguish between genuine functional limitations and exaggerated claims. Present your parent's real situation honestly — the truth is usually enough to justify the support they need.

What the Assessor Evaluates

The SAS assessor uses the IAT to evaluate your parent across multiple domains in a structured conversation that typically takes one to three hours:

• Mobility and falls risk: Walking inside and outside, transferring from bed/chair, stair navigation, balance
• Personal care: Showering, dressing, grooming, toileting — can they do these independently or do they need physical assistance or verbal prompting?
• Domestic tasks: Cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping — are these happening safely, or are they being neglected or creating hazards?
• Cognitive function: Memory, orientation, decision-making, medication management, safety awareness
• Social participation: Isolation, community engagement, emotional wellbeing, relationship with carers
• Home environment: Physical hazards, accessibility, suitability for the person's current abilities

The IAT uses clinical thresholds to score responses. Polite, minimising answers produce lower scores. Specific, honest descriptions of daily struggles produce accurate scores.

After the Assessment

The assessor submits their findings, and your parent receives a formal Notice of Decision within approximately two weeks. This document specifies:

• Approved service types from the national service list
• The Support at Home classification level (Class 1 through 8) for ongoing home care, or approval for residential care
• Any short-term pathway approvals (transition care, restorative care)

If the classification doesn't reflect your parent's needs, you can request a reassessment (if circumstances have changed) or lodge a formal appeal through the Department of Health's three-stage review process. Having that functional diary and GP letter already prepared makes an appeal significantly stronger.

The Preparation Matters More Than the Assessment

Families who prepare well for the assessment rarely need to appeal. The difference between a Class 3 and a Class 5 classification can be $18,000 per year in funding — and that difference often comes down to whether the assessor had the right evidence to work with.

The My Aged Care and ACAT Assessment Guide includes a printable assessment preparation pack with a 7-day functional diary template, a GP letter template using IAT-aligned terminology, and a checklist of every document to have ready for the home visit.

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