What are Star Ratings?
The Star Ratings system has been introduced for residential aged care homes across Australia.
Star Ratings provides simple information about the quality of care an aged care home delivers and how they compare to others.
This can help people who need aged care services, their families and carers make more informed choices about their aged care.
How Star Ratings work
The system is based on an overall Star Rating from one to 5 that is measured against 4 sub-categories:
As the national aged care regulator, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission is responsible for the Compliance Rating.
The Compliance Rating is based on a number of government regulations and standards. These regulations and standards protect and enhance the safety, health, and wellbeing of people receiving aged care.
The Department of Health and Aged Care is responsible for the Staffing, Residents' Experience and Quality Measures Ratings.
What is compliance?
Checking compliance is the process of making sure providers meet their care requirements and taking action when they do not.
If a provider is not meeting regulations and standards, the Commission may take strong regulatory action including non-compliance decisions.
This means that the provider needs to make improvements to how they deliver care and aged care services.
The Star Ratings Compliance Rating
The Star Ratings Compliance Rating is based on an aged care home's compliance performance and history. It is updated when non-compliance decisions are issued and resolved.
The table below shows the different rating levels and what they mean.
Rating |
Decision Type |
|---|---|
|
Significant Improvement needed ★ |
Notice of Decision to impose Sanction (NDIS) Notice of Requirement to Agree (NTA) Issuance of Infringement Notice - Victimisation Issuance of Infringement Notice - Compliance Notice |
|
Improvement needed ★★ |
Notice to Remedy (NTR) Compliance Notice – Code of Conduct (CCCN)* Compliance Notice – Incident Management (IMCN)* Compliance Notice – Restrictive Practices (RPCN)* |
|
Acceptable ★★★ |
When the Commission is satisfied that all non-compliance has been resolved i.e. (no current non-compliance for up to 1 year) OR Direction to revise plan for continuous improvement that is currently active (PCI) |
|
Good ★★★★ |
No non-compliance for a 1-3 year period*** |
|
Excellent ★★★★★ |
No non-compliance for 3 years** AND has been granted accreditation for a 3-year period*** |
|
Null status ☆☆☆☆☆ (no stars) |
Change in Service Ownership, Commencing Homes/Services, Merged Services |
* Only Compliance Notices issued in response to the approved provider’s non-compliance with it’s responsibility, will be published (that is, under paragraph (a) of the relevant subsection in Section 74EE of the Commission Act).
** Where the accreditation decision was following a site audit
*** Where the service has been operated by the same approved provider by at least that same duration
What is a non-compliance decision?
If a provider is not meeting regulations and standards, the Commission will issue a non-compliance decision. Different actions can be taken depending on the nature of the issues and how serious they are.
Where there is more than one non-compliance decision currently in place the Compliance Rating will show the most serious decision. The non-compliance decisions include non-compliance notices, notices of requirement to agree to certain matters (notices to agree) and sanctions.
The Commission publishes detailed assessment reports on the performance of individual aged care services. You can search for the latest provider reports on our Find a report webpage.
More information
- About Star Ratings – Department of Health and Aged Care
- Search for a provider’s Star Rating – My Aged Care
- Find a compliance report – Aged care services detailed performance reports