<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/feb/17/australian-aged-care-algorithm-tool-home-support-funding-packages>
"Aged care clinicians and carers say an algorithm-based assessment tool that
determines federal home support funding packages is “cruel” and “inhumane”,
stripping away clinical expertise and leaving elderly people with inadequate
support.
The integrated assessment tool (IAT), introduced in November, is used across
aged care to determine eligibility and classification for services, including
residential care.
Mark Aitken, a registered nurse for 39 years who spent 16 years in aged care
roles including assessing elderly people for support and funding, said he quit
his job in regional Victoria just four months into using the tool.
The way the IAT assesses home support eligibility has become a central concern,
with the government’s IAT user guide showing the tool generates a
classification of need that must be accepted by assessors to secure support.
There are only limited circumstances in which the decision of the IAT can be
overridden by assessors, and these do not include disagreeing with the
classification of need generated.
“We weren’t allowed to use it (the override button), and even my manager, who
had 25 years of experience in aged care assessment, wasn’t allowed to use it,”
Aitken said.
“There was no ability for anyone to say: ‘The algorithm has it wrong, we need a
human to adjust this’.”"
This is dangerously backwards. Human judgement must always have priority over
algorithms, not the reverse.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
