Older Australians whose aged care needs are determined by an algorithm will be guaranteed a new layer of human oversight, after Labor conceded to parliamentary pressure and promised to reassess its controversial automated assessment regime. Source: The Age.
The government was embarrassed in the Senate yesterday when the Greens and crossbenchers voted for a Coalition bill to wind back automated aged care assessments. While the laws won’t pass the lower house because Labor has majority, it is rare for the government to lose a vote in that way.
It is the second time that non-government senators have banded together to force change on aged care, after uniting last year to pressure the government into fast-tracking the release of 20,000 home care packages.
The Greens and Coalition also teamed up this week to send the government’s gambling advertising laws and social media bill to an inquiry over the winter.
The subject of yesterday’s vote was the automated “Integrated Assessment Tool” that was introduced as part of the government’s home care reforms last year designed to help older people remain at home for longer.
The tool relies on an algorithm to assess a person’s appropriate level of care, and has been subject to a Commonwealth Ombudsman investigation after advocates raised concerns about the lack of ability to reverse erroneous determinations.
The Human Rights Commission has also warned of the dangers of automating such decisions, alluding to the robo-debt scandal in which more than 500,000 Australians were hounded for welfare repayments they did not owe.
While assessments can be reviewed, MPs have sounded the alarm that their constituents are still dying while waiting for appropriate care.
Aged Care Minister Sam Rae tried to get ahead of the Coalition’s bill in a Radio National appearance yesterday morning, saying the government would over the winter parliamentary break develop a new way to speed up decisions.
Mr Rae said trained staff were evaluating the clinical needs of older Australians before the data was entered into the assessment tool, which automatically applied the rules for care.
“This is where the confusion starts to lie – subjective clinical data collection and then objective application of the aged care rules against that clinical data,” he said.
He said of the 260,000 assessments between September and March, only 0.5 per cent had sought a review. He said this suggested only a few cases would need to use the new review.
Those who were not satisfied with their assessment could be reviewed, he said.
FULL STORY
Labor tweaks algorithmic aged care assessment tool under Senate pressure (By Brittany Busch and Natassia Chrysanthos, The Age)
