CPD-a race, obligation or professional responsibility

Written by: Dr. Anchita Karmakar MBBS BBioMed JD Law (CEO AHPAS)

In the recent times, due to some pertinent changes scheduled to occur in June of this year, the social media platforms for healthcare professionals in Australia, especially that of General Practitioners are buzzing with posts about CPD trackers, College membership and AHPRA compliance. There seems to be a lot of confusion in this area of regulation for healthcare professionals and thus I thought today, I will write about what my understanding is of the current situation with CPD.

CPD in other words, Continued Professional Development by definition as per AHPRA states the following:

"Under the National Law, which governs the operations of the National Boards and AHPRA, all registered health practitioners must undertake CPD.

The CPD requirements of each National Board are detailed in the Registration Standards for each profession, published on each Board website. These detail the number of credits/points/hours practitioners must spend each year on learning activities.

Some health professions also provide additional guidelines in their Codes and Guidelines."

Basically it means, if you wish for your patients to continue accessing Medicare rebates and continue having practicing rights as a healthcare professional who is registered under the National Law, one must comply with the registration requirement, one of which is the CPD component. Each craft group have various requirements when it comes to sufficing the CPD requirements, thus the importance in reading and understanding your own craft regulatory requirements which are all available on the AHPRA website.

Now over the years, traditionally specialist colleges would not only provide accredited CPD courses and events for their Fellows and Non Fellows, but they also provided a 'tracking & reporting' component for CPD. Other organisations such as AMA with their D?octor Portal Learning (DPLEARNING) also provides these tracking and reporting web based platform for AHPRA registrants to use to track their progress and compliance.

So what has actually changed or about to change which has made many people talking about this?

It is very simple. The TRACKING mechanism of CPD requirement has changed. THAT IS ALL. The changes to the Health Insurance Act 1973 will take effect on 16th of June 2021. This change do not change professional standards and CPD requirements set by each of the Boards under the National Law. The changes to the Act simply means that GPs do not need to rely on colleges to confirm their compliance with CPD requirements in order for their patients to receive full Medicare rebates. Instead, the information will be provided directly to Medicare by the Board/AHPRA using its registration data.

Does this mean the 'end' to GP Colleges? NO!!!

Does this mean you do not have to do College certified CPD activities as per the registration requirements? NO!!

For example, for Doctors, the Medical Board of Australia is responsible for setting standards for CPD. This means they need to let Medicare know that each of the registered Doctors are meeting their compliance requirements; and it also will include random audits of practitioner's portfolio for evidence.

How does one keep evidence? This is where the tracking and reporting platforms play a role. As a consumer, now you have the choice to track and record your CPD activities through your specialist college for a full membership fee or other membership options. Or, you now also have the right to maintain these records through external companies.

Like any other Specialist Colleges, it is extremely important to remember that the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners(RACGP) and Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine(ACRRM) continue to perform the irreplaceable role of setting professional standards for the speciality of general practice in Australia and will continue to work closely with the Medical Board of Australia(MBA) to ensure the high standards for General Practice remains.

These changes mentioned above does not effect Non-VR or Non specialist Doctors.

Take home message?

Make sure you revise your regulatory obligations. Read, understand and review all your obligations as a AHPRA Registered Healthcare Professional in Australia. To learn more about these obligations and tips on how to maintain your registration obligations properly, please visit www.ahpas.com.au. Here is a video link to a preview to these content:

Understand the role each organisation plays:

"The Family test"-as a healthcare professional we have the privilege of being part of various life journeys. Times of joy. Times of pain and suffering. Life, death, birth and everything in between. It is a privilege. For this, as I practice everyday as a healthcare professional I always apply the "family test". Would I like to have my 6 year old child treated by a professional who has not met their college/clinical standards and or has not continued to abide by and thrive for continuous education and development? The answer is NO!!

The solution to me personally is to conjoin this journey of development with not only the Board, the Specialist Colleges but with Professional bodies such as AHPAS and others where as healthcare professionals we can come together, lobby together, think and develop together, supporting each other in this incredible profession that we are in. Maintaining CPD is not a race or an obligation. It is our professional responsibility which I feel we should embrace, work together and continuously develop forsake of our patients and our loved ones.