Support at Home
Acupuncture
What is Support at Home?
The Support at Home program is a government funded aged care service designed to help older people maintain their independence in their own homes for longer. The Support at Home program replaced the Home Care Packages program on the 1st of November 2025.
Support at Home services include:
- Clinical support: including nursing care, allied health and other therapeutic services (including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, podiatry, speech pathology, etc), nutrition, and care management.
- Independence support: including personal care (including showering, dressing, etc), social support, therapeutic services for independent living, respite, transport, and assistive techology.
- Everyday living support: including domestic assistance, home maintenance, and meal preparation.
Acupuncture is an approved service under the Support at Home program; classified under the category Therapeutic Services for Independent Living. Clients using acupuncture as part of their Support at Home program pay a means-tested co-contribution ranging from 5%-50% of the fee based on a client’s income and pension status:
- Full pensioners pay a 5% contribution.
- Part pensioners and Commonwealth Seniors Health Care Card holders pay a contribution of between 5-50% based on the individual’s income and assets assessment.
- Self-funded retirees pay a 50% contribution.
To be eligible for the Support at Home program a person must be 65 years or older (or 50 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and those at risk of homelessness), live in Australia as a citizen or permanent resident, and have an assessed physical or cognitive need for assisance in everyday tasks.
The Support at Home program consists of eight funding classications, with lower tiers providing light support for basic assistance and higher tiers for more complex medical needs. Funding ranges from around $11,000 per year for level 1 and up to around $78,000 per year for level 8.
To find out if you’re eligible for a Support at Home package you can apply for an assessment. If approved a participant can then choose a registered Support at Home provider to coordinate their care plan. I am registered and have existing relationships with a multitude of Support at Home providers. If I am not currently registered with your provider I can work with them directly to go through their on-boarding process.
How Acupuncture Could Help
Acupuncture can be used as part of a Support at Home program to:
- Help manage chronic pain (including arthritis).
- Improve mobility.
- Support those with neurological conditions such as peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage/pain), stroke, and Parkinson’s disease.
- Help manage urinary and bowel conditions (e.g. urinary incontinence and constipation).
- Support mental health (for those with stress, anxiety, and depression).
- Assist in the management of poor sleep.
- Promote general well-being to enable seniors to remain in their homes for longer.
Why At Home Acupuncture
The intention behind the Support at Home program is to help older people maintain independence at home. Allied health care (acupuncture) delivered directly in the home without needing to go to a clinic is therefore a particularly suitable treament format for this cohort.
One of the advantages of receiving acupuncture at home is that the treatment itself can be performed wherever the patient is comfortable: lying on a bed, sitting in a chair/recliner, in a wheelchair, or on the massage table I bring with me. This is especially true for those with mobility issues, whose limitations often preclude treatment away from the home in a clinic setting.