Clear answers to common questions about occupational therapy practice in community aged care and Support at Home. Platforms such as Mable can provide Occupational Therapists with another way to connect with older people seeking services under Support at Home. The hourly rates can also look attractive. But before accepting a job, it is important to understand that the hourly rate is only one part of the arrangement. If you are working as an independent contractor, you are oper

Clear answers to common questions about occupational therapy practice in community aged care and Support at Home. Under Support at Home, older people may be required to contribute towards the cost of some services they receive. Although these are commonly referred to as co-contributions, the official terminology is participant contributions. The important point for Occupational Therapists is that not every Support at Home service attracts a participant contribution. The amoun

Are we accidentally making OT look like a one-visit service? When I talk to OTs wanting to expand their community work into dementia, low vision, palliative care, restorative care and positive behavioural support - the same problem keeps coming up: How do we get care partners and case managers to see the value of OT beyond a one-off assessment and equipment recommendation? A recent survey I sent to OTs attending our dementia session reinforced this. One OT wrote: "Buy in from

Clear answers to common questions about occupational therapy practice in community aged care and Support at Home. Occupational Therapists play an important role in the Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM) Scheme, particularly where a person's needs require clinical assessment, prescription or advice. The OT's role is not simply to prescribe a piece of equipment or home modification. It is to determine whether an intervention is appropriate for the person, their

I've been thinking a lot lately about the labels we use in occupational therapy. "The all-rounder." "The generalist." "The community OT." They're terms I don't particularly like. Not because they're inaccurate, but because they underestimate what community Occupational Therapists actually do. To me, community OTs aren't generalists. We're integrators. We're often the only health professional who has the opportunity to step back and see the whole picture. We walk into someone'

Whether an Occupational Therapist can charge for report writing under Support at Home depends on what the documentation relates to and the applicable claiming and pricing arrangements. A common misconception is that every activity undertaken can be charged to the participant as additional clinical time. Start with the purpose of the documentation Documentation is part of providing a professional Occupational Therapy service. Occupational Therapists have professional obligatio

If you asked most community Occupational Therapists whether they work in continence care, many would probably say no. Yet ask the same OT, whether they assess toileting, falls risk, bathroom access, mobility, transfers, cognition, dressing, routines, environmental barriers, assistive technology, caregiver education or home modifications, and the answer would almost certainly be yes. We are already working in continence care, we just don't call it that. The harsh reality of th

Clear answers to common questions about occupational therapy practice in community aged care and Support at Home. An Occupational Therapy report under Support at Home should clearly explain what the person is having difficulty with, why it matters, what is recommending, the intended outcomes and benefits, as well as how the recommendation relates to the person's needs and goals. There is no benefit in making a report longer simply to make it appear more comprehensive. The goa

If you're an Occupational Therapist working in community aged care or disability services, you've probably had this conversation: You recommend a review period for a high risk piece of equipment, and the client, family, or funding body pushes back. "That's not required," they say. "I'm not spending my funding on that" There is often push back from clients, families and even providers, particularly when the 'budget is tight'. The reality is that assistive technology reviews ar

The Bed Stick There is a bed stick somewhere right now that poses a risk. It was prescribed, maybe six months ago, maybe two years ago. A thorough assessment was done at the time. Risks were documented and handed over to the family and care partner. The equipment was ordered and installed and the care partner advised ‘no further OT input required.’ The bedstick is still there. Nobody has reviewed it. The consumer's cognition has declined. They have started falling out of bed

Dignity of Risk is now a legal requirement under the Aged Care Act 2024, and an explicit obligation and expectation on Registered Providers. But how does that translate to clinical practice? For Occupational Therapists, there is often tension and pressure: Pressure to sign off on equipment that maybe is not suitable or indicated. Pressure to "make it work" within the available budget. Pressure to stretch clinical reasoning to fit the system. The system expects providers and c

One of the biggest shifts in the Support at Home reforms is the Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (ATHM) Scheme. On paper, the model appears to make sense. Low-risk items (like simple aids) can be arranged directly by providers or care partners, while high-risk items (like scooters or major modifications) require an allied health professional. But here’s my concern: risk doesn’t actually sit with the equipment - it sits with the consumer. Funding Tiers under the ATH

If you’re an OT working in aged care, chances are you’ve heard about the new Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards — but you might be wondering, what do they actually mean for your day-to-day practice? The short answer? More than you might think. While the Standards are written for aged care providers, they shape the expectations for everyone involved in service delivery, including subcontracted allied health like OTs. And with the increased focus on clinical governance, r

A Closer Look. Understanding the Restorative Care Pathway It is a short-term, goal-based intervention: Up to 16 weeks, focusing on regaining function, through intensive allied health and/or nursing services. It includes Multi-disciplinary team involvement: The STRC program required a minimum of three different health professionals to be involved. It encourages outcome measurement and exit planning: Providers must collect pre- and post-intervention data to track progress. Pre-

A Personable Take by Way Forward for OT Training Have you heard the latest buzz about becoming a Registered Provider in the new Support at Home program? If you’re an independent OT or allied health professional, you might have felt some excitement—then confusion—about what it really entails. The recent manual updates and department responses make it clear that holding “Registered Provider” status isn’t as simple as we’d hoped. Here’s the scoop If you become a Registered Provi