CHSP DEX reporting changes in Lookout

The Department of Health is requiring providers to report additional information about the CHSP services they deliver. This guide explains what's changing, the steps you can take right now to prepare, the new details you'll be able to record from 11 August, how to update services you've already delivered in July, and how the "Apply defaults" option can help you complete your July reporting quickly while you transition.

Background

CHSP is a block-funded program: providers receive funding up front to deliver an agreed amount of services, and report back to the government each month on what they actually delivered. The government uses this information to make future funding decisions.

This update -Stage 3 of the government's changes - asks providers to capture more information about each service they deliver. In practice, that means answering a few extra questions about certain services (for example, how much time a participant spent socially engaging with the worker, or whether a meal was prepared on-site or off-site). Our job is to ensure that when you deliver these services, Lookout provides a place to capture everything you need, so your DEX report is complete and meets the government's requirements.

Most of the new information is entered by admins at the rostering stage, meaning very little (if anything) needs to come from Helpers in the field.

Before you start

To be ready for this change, make sure:

Every CHSP Member has their My Aged Care (MAC) ID recorded on their profile
Each Helper is correctly marked as an Employee, Contractor, or Volunteer on their profile

Lookout will flag any Members or Helpers that are missing these details, so you can find and fix them easily.

Top tip: These two steps are worth doing now, before the rest of the change arrives, as they underpin the new reporting and don't depend on any of the new features being switched on.

What's changing and when

From 11 August, the new feature becomes available in Release Hub, so you can switch it on for your organisation whenever you're ready.
On 31 August, the feature switches on automatically for everyone, as this is a regulatory requirement that applies to all providers.
Because reporting for these changes applies from 1 July, you'll be able to go back and update services already delivered earlier in the period.

Top tip: If you deliver a lot of CHSP services, it's worth enabling the feature early (from 11 August), so your team can get comfortable with the new fields before the automatic switch-on date. If you only deliver a small amount of CHSP, keep an eye out - the new fields will appear on your rosters from 31 August, whether or not you've opted in earlier.

New information to capture

From 11 August, depending on the service being delivered, you'll be able to record additional details. Not every provider will see every field - you'll only be asked for the information that's relevant to the services you actually offer.

New information	Applies to
Session location (Home or Community)	Flexible respite, Individual social support, Meal delivery
Whether a meal was provided	Community cottage respite, Home/community general respite
Whether meals were cooked on- or off-site	Meal delivery
Texture-modified meals	Meal delivery, or where a meal is provided
Meal types (main meal, light meal, dessert, beverage, snack)	Meal delivery, or where a meal is provided
Social engagement time	Meal delivery, Transport
Travel distance and travel time	Transport

These fields will appear when you roster visits, raise purchase orders, and set up group visits — wherever they're required.

Most of this information is best entered up front when rostering, since details like where a meal was cooked or what type of meal it was are usually known in advance. Social engagement time and travel distance/time for transport are the exceptions - these can be captured during delivery, and social engagement time is optional.

Please note: During development, we found discrepancies between the Department of Health specifications for DEX reporting and the DEX portal. We are in contact with them and will provide further updates if this becomes an issue.

Updating delivered services

Many organisations delivered CHSP services throughout July before these fields existed. To make the transition easier, you'll be able to:

Bulk update July services with the new information
See exactly which visits are missing required information before you submit DEX
Download an issues report identifying the records that need attention

Visits

You can bulk update individual visits from either the Daily snapshots or Punchcards screen under Rostering:

From the main navigation menu, click Daily snapshots or Punchcards under the Rostering section.
Use the date range picker and filters button in the top left to surface the visits you wish to update. For example, CHSP funding scheme only visits.
Use the bulk select function to select either all surfaced visits or specific visits from the list.
An action bar will appear. It will remind you how many visits you have selected and present you with further action buttons.
Click the Edit button to display a list of drop-down options.
Click CHSP details.
A side window will load. Update any of the fields you want to change.
When ready, click the blue Save button in the top right corner.
A green banner will display confirming your visits were updated successfully.

Reminder: Only the fields you fill in will change; anything left blank keeps its existing value.

Recurring rules

For recurring rules, you can bulk update the CHSP details from the Recurring rules section under Rostering:

From the main navigation menu, click Recurring rules under the Rostering section.
Use the date range picker and filters button in the top left to surface the recurring rules you wish to update.
Use the bulk select function to select either all surfaced or specific recurring rules from the list.
An action bar will appear. It will remind you how many you have selected and present you with further action buttons.
Click the Edit button to display a list of drop-down options.
Click CHSP details.
A side window will load. Update any of the fields you want to change.
When ready, click the blue Save button in the top right corner.
A green banner will display confirming your recurring rules were updated successfully.

Again, only the fields you fill in will change.

Group visits and attendees

When you update the CHSP fields for a group visit, you'll be offered the option to update the attendees for existing event times as well. You can choose a date to backfill event times from an earlier point - as you do, the confirmation will update to show how many attendees will be affected.

Please note: Backfilling won't change any invoices that have already been published. The confirmation will let you know if any attendees already have published invoices; for those, you'll need to update the invoices or the DEX report directly.

Invoices

You can bulk update invoices from the Invoices and credit notes screen under Finance:

From the main navigation menu, click Invoices and credit notes under the Finance section.
Use the filters or sort by options to surface the invoices you wish to update.
Use the bulk select function to select either all surfaced or specific invoices from the list.
An action bar will appear. It will remind you how many you have selected and present you with an Edit button.
Click the Edit button to display a list of drop-down options.
Click CHSP service or outlet.
A side window will load. Update any of the fields you want to change.
When ready, click the blue Save button in the top right corner.
A green banner will display confirming your invoices were updated successfully.

invoice update

Reminder: Only the fields you fill in will change.

Please note: The invoice import template keeps the same name and version even after Stage 3 is enabled. The new Stage 3 columns are added to the file when you download it, so if you had a copy open beforehand, it will look unchanged. Download a fresh copy after enabling the feature to get the updated columns.

Completing July reporting quickly

If you'd rather not manually update every service delivered between early July and August, you'll be able to choose Apply defaults when generating your DEX export. This is designed to help you complete your July reporting quickly while you transition to capturing the new information.

When you apply defaults, they:

Only fill in missing values in the exported DEX report
Do not change your actual visit or roster data
Can be overridden at any time by entering the correct information

Where a default can't reasonably be worked out (for example, transport distance), the export will identify those records so you can complete them manually.

Default values

From the main navigation menu, click CHSP DEX.
Click + Generate new report.
Next to the date picker, tick stage 3 defaults.
You can click the question mark icon next to Stage 3 defaults to see what the default is.

What Happens Next?

Once the feature is switched on, the new fields become part of your normal rostering workflow, so future DEX exports will automatically include the required information, with no extra steps.
Nothing breaks if a field is left blank during rostering. You can carry on as normal; the gap will simply show up at reporting time, where you'll need to backfill the missing information before submitting DEX.

Troubleshooting

I can't see the new CHSP fields on my rosters.

There are two common reasons. First, the feature may not be switched on yet - it becomes available in Release Hub from 11 August and needs to be enabled for your organisation (or it switches on automatically for everyone from 31 August). Second, the fields only appear for the services they apply to, so you won't see every field on every visit. If you deliver a service that requires the new information and still don't see the fields after the feature is enabled, contact support.

New questions have appeared on my rosters, and no one told my team - what are they?

These are the new CHSP details the government now requires providers to capture. They switch on automatically for everyone from 31 August. Nothing is broken and you can keep working, but it's worth letting your team know what the fields are for. If you deliver only a small amount of CHSP, this change is easy to miss - the fields will still appear, and any gaps will need to be filled in before you report.

Why am I being asked to add a My Aged Care (MAC) ID or set a Helper as Employee, Contractor, or Volunteer?

This is Lookout flagging details that are needed for the new reporting. It's a prompt to help you get ready, not an error. Add the MAC ID on each Member's profile, and set the engagement type (Employee, Contractor, or Volunteer) on each Helper's profile.

Do my Helpers need to enter any of this information?

Almost all of it is entered by admins when rostering. The only details that might come from the field are social engagement time and transport distance/time, and social engagement time is optional. Many CHSP providers won't rely on field-based capture at all.

I left a field blank when rostering - did I break something?

No. You can save the roster and carry on as normal. The only impact is at reporting time: any missing information must be filled in (backfilled) before your DEX report is valid.

I've enabled Stage 3, but my import template doesn't show the new meal columns

Simply re-download the template from the import screen once the feature is enabled — the refreshed version will include the meal columns.

Please note: The invoice import template keeps the same name and version even after Stage 3 is enabled. The new Stage 3 columns are added to the file when you download it, so if you had a copy open beforehand, it will look unchanged - download a fresh copy after enabling the feature to get the updated columns.

Will I get a new invoice import template for the CHSP DEX Stage 3 update? My meals are entered via import.

There's no separate file to wait for. Meals are covered as part of the CHSP DEX Stage 3 update, and they're handled through your existing CHSP invoice import template. The version name stays the same, so the three entries are consistent.

Once you enable the Stage 3 updates via the Release Hub, your existing template automatically gains the new columns - including the meal fields (meal provided, cooked offsite, texture-modified, and counts for main/light meals, desserts, beverages, and snacks), along with other Stage 3 fields such as engagement time and travel details.

All the new fields are optional, so your imports will continue to work as normal.

My bulk update didn't change all the values I expected.

Bulk editing only changes the fields you actually fill in. Any field you leave blank keeps its existing value - it won't be cleared or overwritten. If a value didn't change, check that you entered something in that field before saving.

I backfilled a group visit but some attendees didn't update.

This happens when those attendees already have published invoices - backfilling deliberately won't touch invoices that have already been published. The confirmation message will tell you if any attendees are affected. For those attendees, you'll need to update the invoice or the DEX report directly.

I applied defaults, but my actual visit and roster data still looks empty.

That's expected. Defaults only fill in missing values in the exported DEX report; they don't change your real visit or roster data. If you want the underlying data updated, enter it manually or use bulk edit. You can also override any default at any time by entering the correct information.

My export flagged records that defaults couldn't complete.

Where a default can't reasonably be worked out - transport distance is the main example - the export identifies those records so you can complete them by hand. This is by design, not an error.

I'm confused about the July reporting deadline.

The feature goes live on 11 August, but the reporting applies from 1 July. The government moved the deadline for the July report to the end of August, so if you're completing your July report with the new information, you'll need to upload it to DEX by the end of August.

Can I apply defaults to some service types but not others?

No - the Stage 3 defaults are all-or-nothing for each report you generate. They're intended as a quick shortcut for a whole report run. If you want different behaviour for different services, the best approach is to enter the real values through the backfill tools (on your recurring rules, group visits, visits, invoices and attendees) so the report picks up what you've actually recorded.

The guide says defaults can be overridden - where do I do that?

Defaults only ever fill in blankvalues in the report; they never replace values you've already entered. So there's no separate "override defaults" screen. To set a real value, enter it where the information lives - on the recurring rule, the visit, the invoice, or the attendee — as described in the backfilling section. Any value you enter there is used instead of the default.

Where do I record whether a Helper is an Employee, Contractor, or Volunteer?

This is set on the Helper's profile, under Settings > Business Information. If you can't see a Volunteer option, it means that option hasn't been switched on for your organisation yet - contact support and we can enable it for you.

Are my Helpers flagged when information is missing?

No - Helpers are never flagged. Missing information is reported against the service (the visit or invoice), not the worker. When you generate the DEX report, an accompanying error report (a downloadable CSV) lists each record that needs attention, names the specific detail that's missing, and points you to the visit or invoice where you can set it.

Where can I see what's missing before I submit to DEX?

Use the error report that comes with the generated DEX report. It names the exact attribute that's missing and links you straight to the visit or invoice to fix it. This is faster than scanning the report preview, because not every service type needs every field - the error report only surfaces the gaps that actually matter for each service.

Which fields are optional?

Engagement time, trip distance, and trip time are all optional. You won't be blocked from generating your report if they're blank.

Are the subcontractor and volunteer answers mandatory?

No - they're not required fields. For visits, they're pre-filled based on what Lookout can work out (for example, from the Helper's engagement type), and for purchase orders they're pre-filled as Subcontractor delivered: Yes and Volunteer delivered: No. In every case you can change the answers before saving. Unlike the meal, location, and trip defaults (which only apply when you tick the Stage 3 defaults box), the subcontractor and volunteer answers always come through.

I raised a purchase order for a CHSP member - why are the subcontractor and volunteer answers already filled in?

For CHSP members, new purchase orders now start with Subcontractor delivered: Yes and Volunteer delivered: No, since these services are delivered by an external supplier. These are just starting values - you can change either one before you save.

Why is volunteer always showing "No" for purchase-order services in my DEX report?

That's expected. Services delivered through a purchase order are always reported as volunteer: No, because they're delivered by an external supplier rather than a volunteer worker.

The CHSP details for a purchase order apply to the whole order, not each line.

That's correct - for purchase orders, the CHSP information is currently captured at the order level rather than per line. This is a known limitation for purchase orders at the moment.

Can suppliers see the transport or meal information in Connected Care?

No - that information isn't visible to suppliers.

I updated a Helper's engagement type, but the visit's subcontractor answer didn't change.

The engagement type only pre-fills the subcontractor answer for new answers created through the admin rostering form, and only for sessions dated on or after 1 July 2026. It won't retro-fill answers that were created another way (such as through bulk actions, check-out, recurring rules, or an integration) or for older sessions. For those, set the answer directly on the visit.

Do I have to unacquit every checked-out visit to add this information?

No. You can edit the CHSP information directly from the invoice - using the link on the relevant row in the DEX report — or use the bulk backfill forms described earlier. Going forward, the Helper App collects this information at check-out, so it flows through automatically.

What's changed in the Helper App?

The visit check-out step now collects trip information (distance and time) and social engagement time. All of these are optional, and they only appear for the service types and CHSP memberships where they're relevant.

Client transport isn't coming through as kilometres travelled.

At the moment, client transport only flows into the trip distance automatically when the Stage 3 defaults box is ticked when you generate the report. If it's not showing, check whether that box was selected, or enter the distance manually on the visit or invoice.