The Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has released its guide to DEX Stage 3 changes for the Data Exchange (DEX) — the reporting system used by Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) providers across the country.
If you deliver CHSP-funded services, these changes affect you. And while the department has indicated the new fields won’t go live in the production DEX environment until later in 2026, now is the right time to understand what’s coming so your team isn’t caught off guard.
Here’s a practical breakdown.
What is DEX Stage 3?
DEX Stage 3 is the next round of enhancements to the Data Exchange reporting platform, introducing new session-level data fields across a range of CHSP service types. The goal is to give the government a richer picture of how services are actually being delivered — who’s delivering them, where, and with what level of client engagement.
Data Exchange (DEX): the Commonwealth reporting system CHSP providers use to submit client and session-level service delivery data.
Who the changes apply to
The changes apply to providers operating under the 2025–2027 CHSP funding agreements. In other words, if your organisation reports CHSP activity into DEX today, the Stage 3 fields will land in your workflows.
What’s changing across all service types?
Two new fields apply universally across all DEX program activities.
Session delivered by a subcontractor (Yes/No). This captures whether the person who delivered the service directly to the client is not an employee or volunteer of the funded organisation. So if you use subcontracting arrangements for any part of your service delivery, you’ll need to flag this at the session level.
Volunteer involved in direct service delivery (Yes/No). This captures sessions that were predominantly delivered by a volunteer — or where volunteers supported clients to participate in a group activity led by a trained staff member.
Note: this field does not apply to allied health, therapy, nursing, personal care, or therapeutic services for independent living.
DEX Stage 3 changes at a glance
Before the detail, here’s how the new fields break down by service type.
| Service type | New Stage 3 fields | Status |
| All service types | Session delivered by a subcontractor; Volunteer involved in direct service delivery | Applies universally (volunteer field excludes allied health, therapy, nursing, personal care and therapeutic services for independent living) |
| Meal Delivery | Session Location; Meals cooked offsite; Texture modified items; Meal Type fields; Engagement time spent with client | Mandatory, except engagement time which is non-mandatory |
| Transport | Trip distance (km); Trip travel time; Engagement time | Trip distance and travel time are not mandatory |
| Respite — Flexible, Community/Centre-Based, Cottage | Meals provided; Texture modified items; Meal Type fields | Required for all respite service types |
| Flexible Respite (additional) | Session Location; Overnight | Additional fields for this service type only |
| Individual Social Support | Session Location | New field |
Service-specific changes
Beyond the two universal fields, several service types pick up their own requirements. Here’s what changes for each.
Meal Delivery
Stage 3 introduces several mandatory fields for meal delivery sessions:
- Session Location (Home/Community) — replicates the old “At home / At centre” sub-types
- Meals cooked offsite (Yes/No) — identifies whether meals were prepared externally and supplied to the funded organisation for distribution
- Texture modified items (Yes/No) — flags whether any meal in the session was prepared to a modified consistency for dietary needs; only one modified meal per session is needed to select ‘Yes’
- Meal Type fields — captures the mix of main meals, light meals, desserts, beverages and snacks delivered in a session
- Engagement time spent with client (minutes) — non-mandatory, but captures time beyond meal handover, such as placing meals in the fridge, checking food quantities, or having a brief friendly check-in with the client
Transport
Transport reporting gets two new fields focused on the trip itself:
- Trip distance (km), measured from the agreed pick-up point to the agreed destination (for group trips, from the first pick-up to the final drop-off)
- Trip travel time (hours and minutes), time the client(s) spend in the vehicle; begins when the vehicle leaves the pick-up location
Neither of these fields is mandatory. However, the department has flagged they will use the data to better understand service delivery patterns and inform policy.
Engagement time is also captured for transport. This covers time the worker spends assisting the client before or after the trip — for example, helping them to the vehicle or ensuring they have their bags. It does not apply to indirect or voucher-based transport.
Respite services (Flexible, Community/Centre-Based, Cottage)
All respite service types now require:
- Meals provided (Yes/No) — unlocks meal type fields if answered ‘Yes’
- Texture modified items (Yes/No)
- Meal Type fields (same as meal delivery)
For Flexible Respite specifically, two additional fields are introduced:
- Session Location (Home/Community)
- Overnight (Yes/No)
Together, these two fields allow providers to map their sessions to the previous sub-type structure — in-home day respite, host family overnight respite, community access and so on — while capturing more granular data going forward.
Individual Social Support
The new Session Location (Home/Community) field is introduced here, reflecting where the client was located when undertaking the intended activity. If a worker accompanies a client to their bank, for example, the location is recorded as ‘Community’ — even if time was spent at the client’s home before and after.
Importantly, session time is still calculated from when the worker arrives at the client’s home (or agreed location) to when they leave. Location does not change time reporting.
What the DEX Stage 3 changes mean for providers
The honest answer is that the administrative load is increasing. More fields mean more data to collect and enter, and some of this information — like engagement time or trip distance — may require new processes to capture accurately in the field.
The good news is that the department has been clear: none of the new Stage 3 fields will affect your performance assessment under the 2025–2027 funding agreement. This is data collection for policy purposes, not a compliance trap.
That said, mandatory fields are mandatory. So having systems and workflows in place before go-live will make a real difference to your team.
Key takeaways: two new fields apply to every service type; meal delivery, respite and individual social support pick up mandatory fields; transport’s new trip fields are optional but will inform policy; and none of the Stage 3 fields feed into your performance assessment.
Where VisiCase fits in
At VisiCase, supporting providers across multiple funding streams — including CHSP — means we need to stay ahead of reporting changes like these, not react to them after the fact.
We’re currently working through the Stage 3 requirements with our user groups to understand exactly what support providers will need when these fields go live. We’re not there yet, but we’re in it with you.
If you have questions about what DEX Stage 3 means for your reporting workflows, or want to be part of the conversation as we work through the implementation detail, get in touch with our team.
VisiCase supports aged care, disability and community service providers with case management and reporting tools built for the complexity of Australian funding environments.
VisiCase supports aged care, disability and community service providers with case management and reporting tools built for the complexity of Australian funding environments.
Frequently asked questions
When do the DEX Stage 3 changes go live?
the department has indicated the new fields won’t go live in the production DEX environment until later in 2026.
That timing gives providers a genuine planning window rather than a scramble. Because the fields are session-level, the practical work isn’t just switching something on in your reporting system — it’s deciding how frontline staff will capture things like engagement time or trip distance in the first place. Starting those conversations now is easier than starting them the week the fields appear.
Which providers do the DEX Stage 3 changes apply to?
DEX Stage 3 applies to providers operating under the 2025–2027 CHSP funding agreements.
If your organisation delivers CHSP-funded services and reports into the Data Exchange, the two universal fields will apply to every program activity you report. The service-specific fields then apply according to what you actually deliver — meal delivery, transport, respite or individual social support.
Will the new DEX Stage 3 fields affect my CHSP performance assessment?
The department has stated that none of the new Stage 3 fields will affect your performance assessment under the 2025–2027 funding agreement.
The purpose of the new fields is policy insight, not compliance measurement. That said, the fields marked mandatory are still mandatory for reporting purposes, so the distinction is about how the data is used rather than whether you need to submit it.
What counts as engagement time under DEX Stage 3?
engagement time captures the time a worker spends with a client beyond the core service task itself.
For meal delivery, that means time beyond the handover — placing meals in the fridge, checking food quantities, or a brief friendly check-in. For transport, it covers assistance before or after the trip, such as helping a client to the vehicle or making sure they have their bags. Engagement time does not apply to indirect or voucher-based transport, and the field is non-mandatory
Does the volunteer field apply to nursing and personal care sessions?
The volunteer involvement field does not apply to allied health, therapy, nursing, personal care, or therapeutic services for independent living.
For every other program activity, the field captures sessions predominantly delivered by a volunteer, as well as sessions where volunteers supported clients to take part in a group activity led by a trained staff member.
