An aged care AI platform helps providers meet the Aged Care Act 2024 by tracking care minutes against AN-ACC targets in real time, speeding up SIRS incident documentation, supporting electronic medication management and turning carers' spoken notes into structured records. Automation in aged care works when it feeds existing care, rostering and payroll systems and a clinician approves what it records.
The Aged Care Act 2024 commenced on 1 November 2025, the largest reform to aged care law since 1997. It is rights-based, gives the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission stronger enforcement powers, and expects providers to show continuous compliance with evidence, not just pass periodic audits.
This guide is for executives, quality leads and operations managers at multi-site residential aged care groups. It covers where aged care AI earns its place, what to check before buying, and how to roll it out without putting residents at risk.
Key takeaways
- Care minutes now drive funding. Real-time tracking lets managers fix a shortfall on the shift, not a week later.
- SIRS reporting under time pressure is where AI-assisted documentation reduces the most risk.
- Electronic medication management is a Royal Commission recommendation (68) and a major safety lever.
- Voice-to-text notes return time to direct care, which also counts toward care minutes.
- Pilot in one home, integrate with existing systems, and keep a clinician approving every record.
What changed under the new Aged Care Act?
| Old Framework | New Act (From Nov 2025) | Impact | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foundation | Provider-centric compliance | Rights-based, person-centred | Fundamental shift |
| Accountability | Periodic audit focus | Continuous improvement with ongoing evidence | Always-on |
| Enforcement | More limited Commission powers | Stronger powers including civil penalties | Significantly stronger |
| Resident rights | General standards | Statement of rights at the centre of the Act | Greater legal exposure |
| Documentation | Periodic audits accepted | Audit trails and digital records expected | Evidence on demand |
The Commission had already placed 11 providers operating 27 homes under enforceable undertakings for failing to meet care minutes targets (ACQSC, January 2025). Breaching an undertaking lets the Commission seek court orders and penalties.
How do care minutes and AN-ACC funding work now?
Mandatory care minutes targets, introduced on 1 October 2023, rose on 1 October 2024 to a sector average of:
- 215 minutes of total direct care per resident per day
- 44 minutes of that from registered nurses, with up to 10 per cent of RN minutes able to be delivered by enrolled nurses.
From 1 April 2026, part of the AN-ACC base care tariff for metropolitan providers is redirected into a care minutes supplement paid on a sliding scale, according to the Department of Health. Providers that meet their targets receive the full supplement; those that fall short receive progressively less.
Department figures for the September 2025 quarter showed 60 per cent of homes meeting both their total and RN targets, up from 44 per cent a year earlier. Since 1 October 2025, homes must meet both targets to reach a Staffing star rating of 3 or more, which affects occupancy.
Where does AI make the biggest difference in aged care compliance?
1. Care minutes tracking and rostering
Accurate tracking means knowing who is delivering direct care, at what qualification level (RN, EN, PCW), per resident based on occupancy, and projecting shortfalls before they cost funding.
- Clock OnStaff sign in; system pulls role, qualifications, roster
- Care LoggedMobile or voice captures care delivery as it happens
- Auto-CalculateMinutes tallied by category (RN, EN, PCW)
- DashboardProjection against targets with shortfall alerts
- ReportQuarter-end report drafted for review and submission
For example, a 120-bed home tracking care minutes in a weekly spreadsheet finds shortfalls days after they happen, too late to adjust the roster. With live tracking, if a night shift is running below the RN target, the manager sees it during the shift and can act.
2. Incident documentation and SIRS
The Serious Incident Response Scheme requires providers to report specified incident types, with Priority 1 incidents reported within 24 hours. Each needs a record of what happened, who was involved, actions taken, root cause and follow-up. Assembling that under time pressure in fragmented systems produces incomplete records.
AI-assisted documentation can:
- capture incidents by voice at the point of occurrence
- suggest incident type and priority for staff to confirm
- pre-fill fields from the resident's care plan and history
- flag incomplete records before the reporting deadline
- route escalations by severity and keep the audit trail automatically.
3. Medication management
A survey of 140 RNs and ENs in Australian residential aged care (Kuppadakkath et al., International Journal of Older People Nursing, 2023) found nurses linked agency staffing to 70.4 per cent of medication errors, and 88.3 per cent recommended electronic alerts as a prevention strategy. The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (2020) reports that about two-thirds of Australians over 75 take five or more medicines.
Royal Commission Recommendation 68 called for every approved provider to use a digital care management system, including electronic medication management, meeting Australian Digital Health Agency standards and interoperable with My Health Record.
| Paper-Based System | Electronic Medication Management | Impact | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Omission errors (missed doses) | Common and found late | Alerts when doses are due or overdue | Earlier catch |
| Wrong dose documentation | Manual calculation and recording | System-checked dosing with barcode verification | Fewer errors |
| Drug interaction checks | Relies on pharmacist review | Automated interaction flags for clinician review | Faster detection |
| Audit trail | Paper sign-off sheets | Timestamped records with user authentication | Traceable |
| My Health Record | Not connected | Integrated | Aligned with Rec. 68 |
4. Progress notes and care documentation
Progress notes, medication rounds, incident reports, care plan updates and handovers consume a large share of every shift. AI helps by:
- Voice-to-text capture: carers speak observations, and AI transcribes and files structured notes for the carer to confirm.
- Smart templates: pre-filled from the care plan.
- Inconsistency flags: for example, a mobility note that contradicts the current care plan.
- Structured extraction: medications, observations and incidents coded from narrative notes for reporting.
Time returned to residents also counts toward care minutes. Measure documentation time per entry before and after in your pilot home.
Where should an aged care provider start with automation?
What is your most urgent compliance gap?
- Missing care minutes targetsStart with care minutes tracking and rostering: it directly protects funding
- SIRS reporting under time pressureStart with incident documentation automation
- Medication errors or near misses increasingStart with electronic medication management (Royal Commission Rec. 68)
- Meeting targets but documentation is fragmentedStart with AI-assisted care documentation
- Gaps across several areasStart with a compliance dashboard for visibility, then the highest-risk area
What should you look for in an aged care AI platform?
- Integration. It must connect with your clinical care system, rostering, payroll and pharmacy. A standalone tool that creates another data silo is worse than none. Our system integration team builds these connections.
- Care minutes reporting. It should support the Care Minutes Performance Statement in the Aged Care Financial Report.
- Audit readiness. It should keep the audit trails the new Act expects.
- Usability for your workforce, including agency and casual staff.
- Data location. Resident health information is sensitive. It should stay on infrastructure in Australia, with clear access controls.
For build versus buy, see our build vs buy AI TCO guide.
How should a provider roll out aged care automation?
- Months 1-2Audit and FoundationGap analysis against the new Act, system inventory, data quality check, vendor evaluation, board sign-off
- Months 3-4Core SystemsStaff training, compliance dashboard, care minutes tracking, documentation basics, SIRS workflow
- Months 5-6Advanced AutomationVoice notes and smart templates, medication management integration, My Health Record connection
- OngoingOptimise and MaintainQuarterly compliance reviews, staff feedback, updates as the Aged Care Rules evolve
Months 1-2. Pull three quarters of care minutes data. Count SIRS incidents and reporting times. List every system holding resident data. Check credential expiries and care plan completeness. Map gaps against the new Act, focusing on the highest financial and regulatory consequences.
Months 3-4. Pilot in a single home or unit. Rolling out across all homes at once is the most common mistake. Priority: compliance dashboard, then care minutes tracking, then digital documentation.
Months 5-6. Add voice documentation, medication management integration and My Health Record connection once the foundation is stable.
- Care minutes delivered vs target, by shiftBaseline vs pilot
- Time from incident to complete SIRS recordBaseline vs pilot
- Documentation minutes per carer per shiftBaseline vs pilot
- Medication incidents and near missesBaseline vs pilot
- Agency hours usedBaseline vs pilot
What are the common aged care automation mistakes?
- Automating broken processes. Map and fix workflows first, or you produce errors faster.
- Underestimating change. Experienced nurses may have documented on paper for decades. Budget real time for training and support.
- Choosing on licence price alone. Integration cost often exceeds software cost. Compare total cost of ownership.
- Excluding frontline staff. Carers and nurses know what works on the floor. Their buy-in decides whether the system is used.
- Treating it as a one-off project. The Aged Care Rules will keep changing. See automated compliance reporting and training and certification tracking.
How Solve8 can help
Our consultants and engineers connect care, rostering, payroll and pharmacy systems so care minutes, incidents and documentation flow into one audit-ready view, with clinicians approving every record. See our healthcare work and process automation service, or contact us to scope a pilot home.
