Author:
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Released:
27 June 2025
Cat. no:
GEN 015
Summary
The National Aged Care Data Asset (NACDA) brings together de-identified person-level data collected across aged care, health and community service settings for aged care research purposes.
The NACDA is an enduring asset, meaning data will be updated regularly and new tables and data sources added over time.
The purpose of this data resource profile is to provide information on scope, linkage rates and other data characteristics for researchers who want to access the NACDA.
The NACDA is available for both government and non-government researchers to access via the National Health Data Hub (NHDH). The key steps for NHDH access are:
- Eligibility – check the project aligns with eligibility requirements and approved uses for the NHDH.
- Ethics – most non-government projects require an additional Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) approval (see NHDH frequently asked questions).
- Proposal – submit a project proposal to [email protected] (see NHDH Resources for template).
- Approval – AIHW facilitate approvals from the NHDH data custodian, the AIHW Ethics Committee delegate and the NHDH Advisory Committee.
- Onboarding – researchers complete NHDH onboarding training (conducted monthly) before they can access data through the secure access environment.
For more information, see NHDH researcher access, eligibility & costs.
Scope of linked aged care data
Aged care data available in the NACDA consists of over 60 tables covering key Australian government-funded aged care programs and assessments (see NHDH data variable list). This includes home support, home care, residential care, flexible care and aged care eligibility assessments, with some data sources spanning 25 years.
The NACDA currently includes aged care data to 30 June 2022. In August 2025, the NACDA will be updated to incorporate aged care data to 30 June 2024 (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Scope of aged care data in the NACDA as at June 2025
ACAP = Aged Care Assessment Program; ACFI = Aged Care Funding Instrument; AN-ACC = Australian National Aged Care Classification; CACP = Community Aged Care Program; CHSP = Commonwealth Home Support Programme; EACH = Extended Aged Care at Home; EACHD = Extended Aged Care at Home Dementia; HACC = Home and Community Care; HCP = Home Care Packages [Program]; NSAF = National Screening and Assessment Form; RAC = residential aged care; RCS = Residential Classification Scale; STRC = Short-Term Restorative Care [Programme]; TCP = Transition Care Programme.
Figure 1 is a graph that displays the approximate start and end dates for data in the NACDA for different aged care programs. The exact date ranges of aged care data modules in the NACDA are listed in Table 1.
Figure 1 also includes shaded areas for data that will be added to the NACDA in the August 2025 release:
- Data for all current aged care programs and assessments will be extended for the period 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2024.
- Data for the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) will be added for the period 1 October 2022 to 30 June 2024.
- Data for residential aged care (permanent and respite) and the Residential Classification System (RCS) will be extended for the period 1 July 1997 to 30 June 2001.
Aged care data modules
Aged care data in the NACDA are largely administrative data generated as a by-product of the operation of aged care programs, and data collected from aged care assessments. The types of data available and the date range for each data module varies.
Table 1 describes the data available across the 8 aged care data modules in the NACDA. Two data modules – Home and Community Care, and Aged Care Assessment Program – contain data from historical programs which will not be updated in future releases. The National Screening Assessment Form is the largest of the current programs, with over 1.6 million people having a record in this data module.
Some aged care data modules contain multiple tables with different information. For example, the residential aged care data module includes separate tables on episodes of care, leave from care, details on care level, and care needs (funding) assessments. ‘By exception’ tables containing sensitive data items, such as full dates, and ‘conditional access’ tables containing specific data items that cannot be accessed alongside hospitals data, can also be requested where required for a project.
For more information on aged data modules in the NACDA and a complete list of data items, see NHDH data variable list.
Table 1: Aged care data modules available in the NACDA as at June 2025
Care type |
Data module (aged
|
Data structure
|
Temporal range |
Number of
|
| Home support | Home and Community Care (HACC) |
Quarterly summary of service occasions, including type of service |
1 July 2001 to 1 July 2005 to |
1,105,166 (v1) 2,397,433 (v2) |
| Home support | Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) |
Single instances of services, including type of service, provided on particular date/s |
1 July 2016 to 30 June 2022 |
1,598,819 |
| Home care | Home Care Packages (HCP)(b) |
Periods of care with entry/exit dates |
1 July 1997 to 30 June 2022 |
677,299 |
| Residential care | Residential aged care (RAC) |
Periods of care with entry/exit dates, including permanent and respite care, and periodic care needs (funding) assessments |
1 July 2001 to 30 June 2022 |
1,356,492 |
| Flexible care | Transition Care Programme (TCP) |
Periods of care with entry/exit dates |
1 October 2005 to 30 June 2022 |
256,287 |
| Flexible care | Short-Term Restorative Care (STRC) |
Periods of care with entry/exit dates |
1 March 2017 to 30 June 2022 |
19,909 |
| Aged care eligibility assessments |
Aged Care Assessment Program (ACAP) |
Generally one-off eligibility assessment prior to care entry (comprehensive assessments only), including approvals and recommendations |
1 July 2004 to 30 June 2015 |
1,107,562 |
| Aged care eligibility assessments |
National Screening and Assessment Form (NSAF) |
Generally one-off eligibility assessment prior to care entry (home support and comprehensive assessments), including approvals and recommendations |
1 July 2015 to 30 June 2022 |
1,687,803 |
(a) Excludes people with unlinked records (i.e. data module records that did not link to the Enhanced Medicare Spine).
(b) Includes precursor home care programs Community Aged Care Program (CACP), Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) and Extended Aged Care at Home Dementia (EACHD).
Source: AIHW analysis of the National Aged Care Data Asset (June 2025).
Where does the aged care data come from?
Aged care data in the NACDA are sourced from the National Aged Care Data Clearinghouse (NACDC), an independent and central repository of (unlinked) national aged care data.
The NACDC was established at the AIHW in 2013. The Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing supplies annual data extracts to the AIHW for the NACDC.
For more information, see National Aged Care Data Clearinghouse: User guide.
Characteristics of aged care recipients
The NACDA contains data on over 4.1 million Australians who used one or more government-funded aged care programs or received an aged care eligibility assessment between 1997 and 2022.
Use of multiple aged care programs
By linking person records from different aged care programs, the NACDA can be used to explore people’s pathways through the aged care system.
Table 2 outlines the proportion of people who have linked records across different aged care programs. For example, of the nearly 1.6 million people who used the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, 22% are also recorded as having used the Home Care Packages Program at some point. By comparison, of the nearly 700,000 people who used the Home Care Packages Program, more than half (51%) are also recorded as having used the Commonwealth Home Support Programme.
Table 2: People with linked records across selected aged care data modules in the NACDA as at June 2025
Program |
CHSP (%) |
HCP(a) (%) |
RAC (%) |
TCP (%) |
STRC (%) |
Number of people with
|
| CHSP | - | 21.7 | 21.8 | 7.8 | 1.1 | 1,598,819 |
| HCP(a) | 51.1 | - | 52.6 | 13.2 | 1.8 | 677,299 |
| RAC | 25.7 | 26.2 | - | 10.9 | 0.3 | 1,356,492 |
| TCP | 48.7 | 34.9 | 57.9 | - | 0.5 | 256,287 |
| STRC | 92.3 | 62.8 | 20.8 | 7.1 | - | 19,909 |
CHSP = Commonwealth Home Support Programme; HCP = Home Care Packages [Program]; RAC = residential aged care; STRC = Short Term Restorative Care [Programme]; TCP = Transition Care Programme.
(a) Includes precursor home care programs Community Aged Care Program (CACP), Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) and Extended Aged Care at Home Dementia (EACHD).
Source: AIHW analysis of the National Aged Care Data Asset (June 2025).
Aged care use over time
The NACDA contains data back to 1997 for some aged care programs. This means trends in use of aged care services can be followed for up to 25 years, as well as health service use for these aged care recipients for the years where data is available.
Long term trends in aged care should be interpreted with consideration for changes in programs and policy over time. For example, a number of aged care reforms and changes were implemented between 2015 and 2017. This includes introduction of the Short-Term Restorative Care (STRC) Programme, rollout and expansion of the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP), and changes to the Home Care Packages (HCP) Program.
The number of people using different aged care programs in the NACDA varied over time (Figure 2). The overall trend is that people are increasingly using community-based aged care programs like home support and home care.
- The number of people using home support increased from 642,000 in 2016–17 to 760,000 in 2021–22 (a 118% increase).
- The number of people using home care increased steadily from 5,600 in 1998 to 63,800 in 2016, and then tripled between 2017 and 2022 (from 71,500 to 213,700).
- The number of people using residential care increased from 45,600 in 2002 to 185,000 in 2016, and then remained relatively stable between 2017 and 2022 (fluctuating between 187,200 and 192,500).
Figure 2: People using aged care by care type and sex, between 30 June 1998 and 2022
Line chart shows the number of people using aged care (home support, home care, residential care, transition care and short-term restorative care) by sex between 30 June 1998 and 2022.
The number of admissions per financial year in the NACDA also varied by aged care program over time (Figure 3). Admissions generally increased for home care, residential care and short-term restorative care, but admissions to transition care steadily decreased in the later years.
- The number of admissions to home care increased from 7,600 in 1997–98 to 42,700 in 2016–17, and then doubled between 2017–18 and 2021–22 (from 53,500 to 103,200).
- The number of admissions to residential care increased from 2001–02 to 2016–17 (from 104,600 to 148,500), and then remained relatively stable between 2017–18 and 2021–22 (fluctuating between 149,100 and 153,200).
- The number of admissions to transition care increased from 6,800 in 2006–07 to 23,400 in 2012–13, remained relatively stable between 2013–14 and 2016–17 (fluctuating between 24,400 and 25,000), and then gradually decreased from 25,000 in 2017–18 to 16,000 in 2021–22.
- The number of admissions to short-term restorative care increased steadily since the introduction of the program in March 2017 – from 1,600 in 2017–18 to 6,700 in 2021–22.
Figure 3: Aged care admissions by care type and sex, between 1997–98 and 2021–22
Line chart shows the number admissions to aged care services (home care, residential care, transition care and short-term restorative care) by sex between 1997–98 and 2021–22.
The aged care recipient data reported in this section are sourced from the NACDA and may differ from counts published elsewhere, based on unlinked data. Through the data linkage process, duplicate records belonging to a single person are more readily identified and accounted for in the analysis presented in this section.
For a comprehensive list of data items available for aged care recipients in the NACDA, see NHDH data variable list.
Characteristics of aged care services
The NACDA holds rich information on people accessing aged care, but also contains de-identified information on aged care services and providers.
Expanding the availability of de-identified service-level data is a priority for future development of NACDA (see Future expansion).
The number of aged care services (i.e. facilities or outlets that deliver aged care) in the NACDA varied by care type, organisation type and remoteness (Figure 4). This section reports on aged care services that have delivered home care, residential care, transition care or short-term restorative care between 1997 and 2022.
- More than half of aged care services were residential care facilities (52%), and 42% were home care services.
- Not-for-profit organisations operated nearly two-thirds of aged care services (63%), compared with private organisations (26%) and government organisations (9.8%).
- Nearly two-thirds of aged care services were in Major cities of Australia (63%), compared with 23% in Inner Regional Australia and 11% in Outer Regional Australia. Less than 4% of aged care services were located in Remote Australia and Very Remote Australia.
Figure 4: Aged care services by care type, organisation type and remoteness, 1997–2022
Bar charts show the total number of aged care services by care type, organisation type and remoteness for the period 1997 to 2022.
The aged care services data reported in this section are sourced from the NACDA and may differ from counts published elsewhere, based on point-in-time data. The NACDA includes information on services that have ever delivered care to an aged care recipient between 1997 and 2022, but changeable characteristics (e.g. organisation type and remoteness) are based on the latest available information for the aged care service at 30 June 2022.
For a comprehensive list of data items available for aged care services in the NACDA, see NHDH data variable list.
Quality of linked aged care data
Person-level data have been available for some aged care programs nationally since 1997. However, the information and payment systems collecting data for the different programs do not use a common person identifier, and so are not integrated at the source.
Data linkage brings together data from different information and payment systems.
Linkage process
Identifiers from each aged care program are individually linked to AIHW’s Enhanced Medicare Spine (EMS) to allow person-level data to be integrated across aged care programs, and with health and community services data.
The EMS covers the majority of the Australian population, as demonstrated by the high linkage rate achieved in linkages with national data sources (for example, see Table 3). The EMS is created by combining personal identifiers from the Medicare Consumer Directory (e.g. full name, date of birth) with information drawn from the National Death Index and the Australian Immunisation Register. The EMS is updated regularly.
Both probabilistic name-based linkage and multi-step key-based linkage methods are used for the NACDA, depending on the availability of personal identifiers for each aged care program.
Staff with access to these identifiers do not have access to any further information about aged care service users.
Linkage rates
Table 3 outlines the number of records from the source data and linkage rates for each aged care data module in the NACDA.
All aged care programs using probabilistic name-based linkages had very high linkage rates (over 99.7%). Name-based linkage is used where full name and demographic information are available in the source data. This approach was used for home care, residential care, transition care, short-term restorative care and aged care eligibility assessments using the National Screening and Assessment Form.
The linkage rates for aged care programs using multi-step key-based linkages were lower. Key-based linkage is performed using a statistical linkage key (SLK-581), where full name and demographic information are not available in the source data. The Commonwealth Home Support Programme had the lowest linkage rate (91.7%) of all the aged care data modules in the NACDA. The other key-based linkages were for historical programs – Home and Community Care, and Aged Care Assessment Program – which will not be updated in future releases.
Table 3: Linked and unlinked records from source data for each aged care data module in the NACDA as at June 2025
Aged care data module |
Linkage
|
Linked
|
Unlinked
|
Number of
|
| Home and Community Care (HACC) v1 | key | 92.6 | 7.4 | 7,818,637 |
| Home and Community Care (HACC) v2 | key | 92.9 | 7.1 | 25,556,306 |
| Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) |
key | 91.7 | 8.3 | 1,742,714 |
| Home Care Packages (HCP)(b) |
name | 99.8 | 0.2 | 836,156 |
Residential aged care (RAC) |
name | 99.7 | 0.3 | 2,814,680 |
| Transition Care Programme (TCP) |
name | 99.8 | 0.2 | 321,645 |
| Short-Term Restorative Care (STRC) |
name | 99.9 | 0.1 | 21,750 |
| Aged Care Assessment Program (ACAP) |
key | 97.4 | 2.6 | 2,100,180 |
| National Screening and Assessment Form (NSAF) |
name | 99.8 | 0.2 | 1,691,476 |
(a) Source data may include duplicate records (i.e. duplicate identifiers) for the same individual. Therefore, the number of records from source data (Table 3) may not be equal to the number of people with data in module (Table 1 and Table 2) for a given aged care data module.
(b) Includes precursor home care programs Community Aged Care Program (CACP), Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) and Extended Aged Care at Home Dementia (EACHD).
Data item quality
Like all linked administrative data assets, data quality in the NACDA varies between data modules, individual tables and individual data items.
Linkage of multiple administrative data records mean there are multiple opportunities to ascertain important information about a person. It also means information can differ between data sources for the same person. Researchers can choose to use different statistical methods to resolve these inconsistencies and/or increase the ascertainment of characteristics that are known to be underreported in administrative data.
Table 4 outlines differences between individual tables in the reporting of selected person demographic characteristics (sex and year of birth). Overall, inconsistencies between these tables are low. Over 98% of people in the NACDA have matching sex across the tables analysed, and over 97% have matching year of birth.
Table 4: Comparison of demographic characteristics across NACDA tables as at June 2025
Characteristic |
NACDA tables compared |
Characteristic
|
Characteristic
|
Number of people across
|
| Sex | NAC_AGED_RECIP vs NAC_CHSP_RECIP |
98.7 | 1.3 | 605,393 |
| Sex | NAC_AGED_RECIP vs PATIENTS_DEMOGRAPHY_DEC24 |
99.7 | 0.3 | 1,838,997 |
| Sex | NAC_CHSP_RECIP vs PATIENTS_DEMOGRAPHY_DEC24 |
99.1 | 0.9 | 1,598,819 |
| Sex | NAC_AGED_RECIP vs NAC_CHSP_RECIP vs PATIENTS_DEMOGRAPHY_DEC24 |
98.6 | 1.4 | 605,393 |
| Year of birth | NAC_AGED_RECIP vs NAC_CHSP_RECIP |
98.6 | 1.4 | 605,393 |
| Year of birth | NAC_AGED_RECIP vs PATIENTS_DEMOGRAPHY_DEC24 |
97.6 | 2.4 | 1,838,997 |
| Year of birth | NAC_CHSP_RECIP vs PATIENTS_DEMOGRAPHY_DEC24 |
98.6 | 1.4 | 1,598,819 |
| Year of birth | NAC_AGED_RECIP vs NAC_CHSP_RECIP vs PATIENTS_DEMOGRAPHY_DEC24 |
97.7 | 2.3 | 605,393 |
Note: NAC_AGED_RECIP is a NACDA table containing demographic information for the residential aged care, home care and flexible care data modules. NAC_CHSP_RECIP is a NACDA table containing demographic information for the Commonwealth Home Support Programme data module. PATIENTS_DEMOGRAPHY_DEC24 is a NACDA demographics table for all people with a linked service event record in one or more of the National Health Data Hub content tables, with sex and year of birth based on the Medicare Consumer Directory.
Source: AIHW analysis of the National Aged Care Data Asset (June 2025).
For a description of data quality for individual data items in the NACDA, covering domains such as accuracy, validity and completeness, see NHDH data variable list.
Scope of other linked data
Data in the NACDA are de-identified, meaning personally identifying information such as full name and full date of birth are removed. A unique person-number is used to follow individuals through the available data modules and across previously siloed systems.
The NACDA is accessible via AIHW’s National Health Data Hub (NHDH). As at June 2025, the NACDA via the NHDH contains de-identified data on key government-funded aged care programs and assessments, linked to medicines, deaths, hospitalisations, immunisation, intensive care, National Disability Insurance Scheme, and Medicare Benefits Schedule data (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Data modules in the NACDA via the National Health Data Hub as at June 2025
Source: National Health Data Hub.
Figure 5 is a diagram with 13 circles. At the centre is a circle that says NHDH. There is one circle connected which has 'access for all approved projects' called Demography data which contains all de-identified individuals and is marked as 'most recent'. The following are the other 10 circles around the central circle, representing those with 'access based on approval':
- 1997–2022: Aged Care Services data (national coverage)
- 2017–2022: National Disability Insurance Scheme dataset (national coverage)
- 2010–2022: Australian Immunisation Register (national coverage)
- 2010–2023: Hospital data (NSW, Vic, Qld, SA, ACT, Tas)
- 2010–2023: Admitted patients (public | private – Vic, Qld, ACT)
- 2010–2023: Emergency department
- 2013–2023: Non-admitted patients
- 2010–2023: Medicare Benefits Schedule (national coverage)
- 2010–2024: National Death Index (national coverage)
- 2010–2023: Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme – including Repatriation (national coverage)
- 2017–2024: Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society (national coverage).
For more information about data modules available in the NACDA via the NHDH, including future expansion, see NHDH Data & data items.
Future expansion
The NACDA was a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety to ensure reliable and comprehensive data about the sector is available for research.
The AIHW’s approach to developing the NACDA is informed by consultation with non-government, peak body and government stakeholders.
Future development of NACDA will focus on expanding data sources as outlined by the Royal Commission, in consultation with stakeholders. This may include de-identified service-level data on the quality of care provided, aged care workforce and financial performance.
Where can I find out more?
More information about the National Aged Care Data Asset (NACDA) is available on the NACDA webpage.
How to access NACDA
The NACDA is available for both government and non-government researchers to access via the National Health Data Hub (NHDH). For more information, see NHDH researcher access, eligibility & costs.
Current NACDA projects
As at 2 April 2025, there were 31 active (fully approved) projects using the NACDA via the NHDH. For a list of all NHDH projects, visit NHDH Approved projects and status.
Contact
For more information, contact the NACDA team at the AIHW through our enquiry form, via email at [email protected] or 02 6244 1000.
