Admitting a Resident

Admitting a resident registers their entry into residential aged care, both in Maica and with Services Australia. The entry is the foundation of the resident's care lifecycle: every later event, such as a supplement, a leave period, or a departure, references the care period that the entry establishes.

This article covers the difference between a permanent and a respite entry, how to record the entry in Maica, and how it is submitted to Services Australia.

Permanent versus respite entry

There are two types of entry, and you choose the type when you record the entry.

Entry type	What it is
Permanent	Ongoing residential care. The entry opens a care period that continues until the resident departs.
Respite	A planned short stay. The entry includes a planned departure date, though that date can be updated later.

The entry date is inclusive for payment, which means government subsidy begins on the entry date itself. Respite care has its own fee and balance rules, covered in Managing Residential Respite Care.

Recording the entry in Maica

You record an entry from the resident's Funding record using the Submit Entry Event action.

1. Open the resident's Funding record.

2. Select the Submit Entry Event action.

3. Complete the entry details in the modal, then submit.

Before the action runs, Maica checks a few conditions and blocks the submission with a clear message if any fail.

Check	Why
The Funding record is for Residential Aged Care	The entry event applies only to residential aged care
The linked Contact has a Care Recipient ID	Services Australia needs the resident's identifier
No entry is already in progress	Prevents a duplicate submission while one is still being processed
No active care period already exists	A new entry cannot be submitted while the resident is already in active care at this service

Submitting the entry to Services Australia

What happens next depends on whether this is a new admission or a re-admission.

For a new admission to your service, Maica first performs a care recipient search with Services Australia to confirm the resident's identity and obtain a temporary access key needed for the submission. You review the pre-filled search details, correct them if needed, and run the search. For a re-admission, the search step is skipped and you go straight to the entry details.

Maica then submits the entry, including the resident's care recipient ID, your service identifier, the entry date and type, the accommodation payment type, pensioner status, and whether the resident is opting in to the newer means testing arrangements.

Services Australia responds with an event identifier and a status. Maica records these on an Aged Care Event linked to the resident. If the status comes back as Held, meaning Services Australia needs to do something before it is finalised, Maica keeps checking until it resolves to Accepted or Rejected.

For more on how event statuses work and what to do with a held or rejected event, see the Working with Services Australia section of the guide.