Documents obtained through freedom of information requests reveal that health officials across four Australian states have expressed significant alarm regarding a new federal government funding tool for in-home aged care. The tool, which utilizes an algorithm to determine support levels for elderly citizens, has been the subject of internal logs kept by state staff to track cases of severe under-assessment.

One senior state health official formally warned the federal government that the system was producing potentially "catastrophic" results. According to the documents, the official reported that staff members were overwhelmed by incoming calls from distressed clients and assessors who were struggling with the tool's output. While the federal government maintains the tool is designed to streamline funding, the state-level logs suggest a disconnect between the algorithm's assessments and the actual care needs of vulnerable older Australians. The Guardian reports that these concerns were raised within days of the tool's initial launch, highlighting a rapid escalation in friction between state health departments and federal administrators over the implementation of the new technology.