One of the people involved in developing Australia's controversial aged care assessment tool says she is now too scared to use it, after discovering the government underpinned it with an algorithm she never intended. Lynda Henderson, who sat on the expert advisory group for the Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT), said the questions were designed to assist clinical judgment, not to be scored by a 'ridiculously simplistic' algorithm.
Henderson told Guardian Australia she felt 'fury' when she learned the government had introduced an algorithm to classify responses and determine funding packages. 'I had no idea that an algorithm would eventually be applied to the assessment we were developing,' she said. The IAT has been criticised for frequently under-assessing needs, leaving people with inadequate funding, and for removing assessors' ability to override incorrect outcomes.
Henderson, whose partner died of dementia two years ago, now requires more home support herself but is terrified to apply for reassessment. 'I am so terrified about applying for a reassessment and having all my support cut if it under-assesses me that I'm not going to go ahead,' she said. She called the algorithm 'absolutely ridiculously simplistic' and said the worst decision was disallowing assessors to override it.
The Department of Health and Aged Care did not respond to questions about when the algorithm was introduced or who developed it. Documents confirm that from 1 November, IAT classifications for support at home cannot be overridden. Greens Senator Penny Allman-Payne has written to the aged care minister urging him to reinstate human oversight and allow assessors to correct under-assessments.
