Home care technology is failing – and providers are paying the price

“We had to implement Excel to calculate budgets.” That quote – offered without elaboration by a home care provider in Enkindle Consulting’s latest survey – says more about the state of home care technology than any graph could.

Part 5 of the 2026 Home Care Provider Outlook Survey, released last week, covers Technology and Digital Capacity. It draws on responses from more than 315 home care leaders and professionals across Australia. The findings are not new. They are, in fact, the same findings the sector has been producing for four years.

64.23% of providers report their home care system either doesn’t meet their needs or doesn’t exist at all. That figure hasn’t shifted, but not through sustained investment or reform. The report is careful to name it plainly: “a persistent, unresolved gap in digital capability, rather than a short-term issue.”

What broke at go-live

When Support at Home launched on 1 November 2025, providers and vendors had to rebuild systems under pressure, working from incomplete and late-confirmed requirements. 

Enkindle’s data captures what happened next.

55.56% of providers report their system functionality was not ready for Support at Home, which was the single most common issue recorded. Integration failures with government APIs rank second, reported by 42.42%. Budget and fee configuration issues followed at 38.38%.

The operational consequences for providers are direct because they can’t: 

• They can’t generate accurate Support at Home claims
• They can’t create client budgets
• They can’t track care management time with confidence. 

They’re also resolving claims failures manually, running parallel spreadsheet processes, and spending hours on government help lines.

“We are not paid for any overspend due to system inaccuracies,” one provider wrote. Another: “Workarounds were not expected and continue with no end in sight.”

Vendors, government, and a gap no one is filling

The report doesn’t spare vendors. Provider frustration is direct: “Current vendor is a total disaster and shambles.” “We have lost trust in vendors – sales pitches are misleading.” 

Some providers report they had to brief their own vendors on government requirements because the vendors weren’t across them. “Developers could only build based on limited or changing information.”

Government instability is equally damaging. “Government changes are occurring weekly. System updates are undoing previous work.” Providers describe rework stacking on top of rework.

And the cost lands entirely on providers. 

One reported spending $200,000 on system upgrades with no Commonwealth funding. Another: “We invested in preparation with no support.”

Data quality is now a financial risk. “No data to drive pricing or service delivery decisions.” “Inaccurate data impacting client budget decisions.” One provider’s summary was unambiguous: “This is the biggest risk right now.”

What leaders need to do with this

The report is not calling for patience. It is documenting, in providers’ own words, a system failure that is affecting real people. When statements are inaccurate, older clients receive confusing information about their funding – and complaints increase.

Only 9.09% of providers rated their system upgrades as “very effective” for Support at Home delivery. Nearly half rated them as either “not effective” or only “somewhat” effective.

So if your organisation is among the 64%, document everything. The workaround hours, the manual intervention costs, the help line time. This is the evidence that moves the conversation beyond frustration.

The full five-part series – covering provider outlook, Support at Home transition experience, the Aged Care Act 2024 transition, CHSP readiness, and this final technology report – is available at enkindle.com.au.