Equipment and home modifications: the rules that protect you
In her July 2026 National Press Club address, the outgoing Inspector-General of Aged Care told the story of a woman whose GP prescribed a $50 pair of crutches — and whose pathway to them ran through an occupational therapy assessment costing around $1,800 and a three-month wait. Equipment limbo is real, and it is where good assessments go to stall. But the Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM) scheme also contains a set of protections most families never hear about — caps on charges, an agree-before-spend rule, and a way retained package funds make the whole thing cost nothing. Here is the map.
How the money works
- AT-HM has its own budget, separate from the quarterly services budget — funded in tiers according to assessed need: low $500, medium $2,000, high $15,000, for assistive technology and for home modifications separately, usually with 12 months to spend it.
- High-tier equipment is not capped at $15,000. The Manual says so in terms: people whose assistive technology costs more can get additional funding with evidence, such as a valid prescription. The provider must seek approval for the extra amount before claiming. (Home modifications are different — see the lifetime cap below.)
- Your quarterly services budget cannot buy equipment. The department is explicit that AT-HM can only be funded through the AT-HM scheme, “even if there are remaining funds available” in the quarterly budget. If your tier is not enough, the route is a support plan review with evidence of need, not the services budget. The one exception is the prescription itself, which can be paid from the scheme, the quarterly budget or privately.
- You can use it before your other funding arrives. AT-HM has its own priority queue. Once it is allocated and you have a provider, it can be used even if you are still waiting for your ongoing services funding. One group goes to the front: a person who had motor neurone disease at the time of their most recent aged care assessment is in the “Immediate” priority category for both equipment and home modifications (Aged Care Rules, s87-7, as amended in July 2026 and applying to assessments since 1 November 2025).
- The item is one cost; the pathway is another. The equipment or modification itself attracts your independence contribution rate — but the prescription and wrap-around services are clinical, so 0% contribution for everyone. The OT report that decides what you need should never be the out-of-pocket obstacle.
- An occupational therapist is not always required. Home modifications must be prescribed by an occupational therapist. Equipment is different: where a prescription is needed at all, it can come from “a suitably qualified health professional, such as a nurse or allied health professional”. If you are told a simple item needs a full OT assessment, it is fair to ask why a nurse or physiotherapist cannot prescribe it.
- Two rules in the legislation that work in your favour. For equipment supplied on loan, your contribution is worked out on 33.3% of the cost, not the full cost (Aged Care Rules, s273-10) — that applies to loan and rental arrangements providers can use now; the national loans scheme itself is not yet available. People in remote areas (MM6–7) on the high home modifications tier contribute on only 66.6% of the cost. And for all equipment and modifications, the rate used is the lower of your contribution rate on the day you agreed to the purchase and your rate on the day it is delivered (Aged Care Act, s273(2); Rules, s273-5) — so a rate rise while you wait does not cost you more.
- Retained Home Care Package funds go first — and make it free. If you transitioned with unspent HCP funds, the rules require the Commonwealth-held portion to be used before AT-HM tier funding — and anything paid entirely from those Commonwealth unspent funds attracts no contribution at all. For transitioned families with a balance, equipment is often literally free. (Full rules: the unspent funds guide.)
- High-tier home modifications are capped at $15,000 per lifetime (supplements excluded), with a 12-month window to spend — extendable to 24 months for complex work if progress is evidenced to Services Australia within the first year. And participants assessed with specified progressive conditions automatically receive 24 months of assistive technology funding access to keep pace with changing needs — extendable on application by a further 24 months (48 in total).
The two caps on admin charges — check every invoice
Providers can charge for administration and coordination of AT-HM — but the Manual caps it hard:
- Assistive technology: admin/coordination capped at 10% of the item cost or $500 — whichever is lower.
- Home modifications: capped at 15% of the cost or $1,500 — whichever is lower.
So a $3,000 recliner can carry at most $300 of administration; a $2,000 bathroom rail job at most $300. An invoice with a “service loading”, “sourcing fee” or “coordination charge” above those lines is worth a written query — and so is one that was never agreed in advance, because:
The agree-before-spend rule
The Manual is explicit: all AT-HM costs must be agreed and documented between the provider and the participant before committing to the funds being spent — they can be agreed progressively as a job unfolds, but never after the fact. This is the rule most often missed in practice: when the department checked a sample of late-2025 claims, it found sufficient evidence of an agreed price for only 23% of the equipment and home modification claims it reviewed. A buried clause in a service agreement signed months ago is not per-purchase agreement. If a charge appears that you never agreed to in writing for that purchase, the written question is simple: “Please provide the documented agreement, made before the funds were committed, for the administration charge on invoice [X], as required by the Program Manual.”
If the equipment itself is stuck
Prescribed but waiting? Ask the provider in writing for the order status and a date; if the delay is the assessment pathway, ask whether the item qualifies for a lower-tier or interim solution while the paperwork runs. OPAN’s free advocates (1800 700 600) chase equipment delays, and pricing or charging problems can go to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (1800 951 822) — see the escalation ladder.
Working out the services side too? The estimator computes contributions and budget fit from the official schedules.
Estimate the costsRelated: what unspent Home Care Package funds can buy · which services cost you what