Financial Sustainability in Aged Care | 2025 Insights
Aged care providers in 2025 are navigating a perfect storm: workforce pressures, tighter margins, shifting funding models, and a compliance-heavy regulatory landscape. As the Support at Home program and Aged Care Act 2024 reforms approach full implementation (starting 1 November 2025), the financial health of aged care operators has never been more fragile or more fixable.
This guide goes beyond cost-cutting. It outlines what high-performing providers are doing to build long-term financial resilience while maintaining quality, compliance, and trust.
Aged Care Finance Snapshot: What the Data Tells Us
According to Mirus Australia (2025):
Residential aged care providers are operating at an average $11/day deficit per resident
Sector-wide losses exceed $700 million, even among better-resourced services
Staffing compliance and unplanned admin time are key cost drivers
Meanwhile, home care providers face a different storm:
Unclear unit pricing under the incoming Support at Home model
Rising cost-to-serve due to decentralised operations
Challenges in balancing flexible, person-centred care with budget predictability
Key Insight: Financial sustainability isn’t just about more funding. It’s about more efficient systems, stronger governance, and better cost visibility.
1. The Real Cost of Compliance
With the Aged Care Act 2024 set to go live in November 2025, financial pressure isn’t just clinical—it’s governance-linked.
What’s Changing:
Providers must deliver audit-ready documentation for care minutes, incidents, and governance
Real-time metrics tied to Star Ratings and Strengthened Quality Standards
Boards and executives are now personally accountable for financial and clinical safety
Impact on Cost:
Compliance preparation is consuming 15–20% of management time
Late or patchy documentation leads to funding delays and claim rejections
Fines and sanctions cost more than prevention
Provider Strategy:
Automating audit trails via platforms like Curki.ai
Assigning compliance liaisons who bridge care and governance
Embedding compliance logic in frontline workflows
2. Predictive Financial Governance
Gone are the days of quarterly spreadsheets. Top providers now:
Track service-level profitability in real time
Model wage increases, staff shortages, or funding changes before they hit
Use visual dashboards to compare cost-per-minute, per-client, or per-region
Tools That Enable This:
AI dashboards (e.g., Curki.ai) that integrate care, finance, HR, and compliance
Dynamic modelling of Support at Home funding scenarios
Flagging anomalies in wage-to-care ratio or billable-to-nonbillable hours
Result: 15–30% faster decision-making, fewer financial shocks.
3. Labour: Your Largest Cost, Greatest Opportunity
Labour accounts for up to 80% of aged care operating costs. But mismanaged, it’s also your greatest risk.
Common Problems:
Over-servicing vs. under-claiming: care teams unsure what’s billable
Shift gaps leading to costly agency hire or non-compliance
Fatigue-related errors from poor rostering
Smart Operators Are:
Using AI rostering to match staff skills with client needs and minimise overtime
Embedding fatigue prediction tools in shift planning
Aligning rosters with funding deliverables, not just availability
Win: Fewer missed visits, higher continuity, lower rework.
4. Maximising Service Mix Profitability
High-performing providers aren’t just cutting costs—they’re rethinking what services to grow, streamline, or sunset.
Approach:
Service-level costing: understanding the margin per service line
Cross-mapping care complexity with resource intensity
Prioritising low-effort, high-impact interventions
Example:
A provider found wellness check-ins generated 25% more engagement and took half the time of clinical visits—boosting margin and client satisfaction
5. Funding Reform Readiness: Support at Home & Beyond
Support at Home is coming—but unit pricing and package structures remain unclear. Providers must:
Prepare to shift from block-funding to client-outcomes-based billing
Build transparent costings to justify service value
Educate staff on the difference between clinical necessity and billable activity
What Works:
Scenario planning for different unit cost outcomes
Client education tools that link goals to service mix
Digitally tracking client outcomes to support future negotiations
6. Digitisation as a Financial Lever
Tech investments feel expensive until you measure the hours (and claims) they unlock.
Case Study:
A residential provider invested in AI-based speech-to-text documentation:
Reduced nurse admin time by 31%
Audit readiness improved by 42%
ROI achieved within 7 months
High-ROI Digital Priorities:
Auto-invoicing + validation
Documentation AI + audit mapping
Incident escalation + triage logic
Service cost calculators by client or package
✨ Final Thought: The Providers That Thrive Are Operationally Intelligent
In 2025, financial sustainability in aged care isn’t about cutting corners. It’s about:
Smarter use of your workforce
Cleaner alignment of care with compliance
Real-time insight into your biggest risks and opportunities
AI and digital platforms like Curki.ai are helping providers move from manual to strategic operations where every dollar, hour, and outcome is optimised.
Want to know where your real costs, risks, and ROI sit?
🔗 Book a financial intelligence audit with Curki.ai and get a custom report on how to:
Cut admin time by up to 30%
Unlock hidden revenue in your service mix
Prepare for audit in half the time