Aged Care Explained (AgedCareExplained.com) is an independent Australian guide to the aged care system. We explain, in plain English, the parts of the system families usually meet at short notice and under stress: how residential aged care works, what the fees actually are, how assessments are run, and how the Support at Home program funds care in your own home. Everything we publish — guides, worked fee examples, and our free RAD vs DAP and MPIR calculators — is written for Australian families making these decisions for the first time. Most of our readers arrive while a parent is in hospital or a care need has suddenly changed, so we write for clarity first: a short, direct answer up front, the full statutory detail underneath, and the official government phone numbers within easy reach on every page.
Who Publishes This Site
The site is published by an independent editorial team and is not owned by an aged care provider, a financial services company, or a government agency. Our guides and calculators are clinically reviewed by Dr. Shahid Islam, MBBS, our Medical Director and lead reviewer, who checks care pathway descriptions and statutory details before publication. You can read more about his role and credentials on his profile page.
How We Research and Review
Our editorial process starts with official sources: the Aged Care Act, fee determinations and program rules published by the Department of Health and Aged Care, Services Australia payment schedules, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) standards, and Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) data. Statutory figures such as the MPIR, the Basic Daily Fee, and means-tested fee caps are cross-checked against the current schedules, and our guides display the date of their last statutory review so you can see how current they are. Clinical content is then reviewed for accuracy, and every page is checked to make sure statutory rules are never blurred with commercial marketing. When legislation or fee schedules change — as they did with the introduction of Support at Home — the affected guides are reviewed and updated rather than left to drift, and our calculators are re-verified against the new rates.
How the Site Is Funded
Aged Care Explained is free to read and is funded by advertising, including ads served by Google AdSense. We do not charge readers, and we accept no placement commissions from nursing homes or home care providers — no provider can pay to be recommended, ranked, or described more favourably in our guides or calculators. Our full funding and independence statement is set out in our Editorial Independence & Disclosure.
What We Are Not
We are an information service only. Aged Care Explained is not a care provider, does not operate any aged care home or home care service, and does not sell placements, referrals, or bookings. We are not affiliated with the Australian Government, the Department of Health and Aged Care, Services Australia, or My Aged Care. The official gateway to government-funded aged care is myagedcare.gov.au (1800 200 422), and assessments or placements can only be arranged through it or directly with approved providers. Our content is general educational guidance, not personal financial, legal, or medical advice.
Corrections and Feedback
Fees and rules in Australian aged care change regularly, and we work to keep every figure current. If you spot an error, an out-of-date figure, or something we have explained unclearly, please tell us through our contact page or by email at [email protected]. Every correction report is reviewed by the editorial team, and where a change is needed we update the page and its review date.