Automated systems need rigorous adjustment for aged care

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has welcomed the investigation into the integrated assessment tool (IAT) used in aged care following concerns around how automated systems are impacting financial outcomes for older Australians.

The IAT is a national digital system designed to make decisions about an older person's needs and their eligibility for home-based government-subsidised aged care services, as part of the government's Support at Home program.

In practice, the IAT maps what services a person can access and how costs are shared between them and the government based on automated or algorithmic-based systems.

However, recent public reporting highlights concerns around how the tool operates, including whether human reviewers are being prohibited from overriding automated decisions, and whether review pathways are accessible and effective when people's circumstances change or errors are detected, the commission said.

For older people, aged care assessments often determine both the level of support received and the costs they must meet, frequently at times of heightened vulnerability.

Even where tools do not explicitly take age or other protected attributes into account, the use of data patterns and correlations can produce "unequal or unfair" outcomes.

Experience across Australia's public systems shows that risks arise when automated tools are used to make significant decisions, particularly where they materially shape outcomes, are difficult to explain or navigate, it said.

The AHRC stressed that Australia's human rights framework requires the government and decision-makers to respect equality and guard against discrimination, and those standards remain in place even when technology is introduced.

"Responsibility remains with the public institutions that design and implement on such systems, to protect the rights of the people who rely on their outcomes," the commission said.

"The commission has consistently emphasised that AI-informed decision-making in government must operate within clear legal authority and be supported by effective human oversight, transparency and review.

"The Ombudsman's investigation provides an important opportunity to examine whether current practices reflect these standards and where safeguards need to be strengthened.

"As governments continue to adopt automated tools across service delivery, ensuring that decision-making remains human-centred, understandable and open to review is central to protecting older Australians."