The Optometry Board of Australia has frozen its registration fees for 2018–2019 to AU$300. The annual renewal fee will apply from 10 September 2018 and covers the registration period for most practitioners of 1 December 2018 to 30 November 2019.
The National Boards, which regulate the fifteen registered health professions under Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, announces registration fees each year.
Registration fees support the development of national standards for the professions, to ensure that the trust people place in registered health practitioners is being met
The National Boards, which regulate the fifteen registered health professions under Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, announces registration fees each year.
Registration fees support the development of national standards for the professions, to ensure that the trust people place in registered health practitioners is being met through practitioners who are fully trained and competent to practise.
Registration in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (the National Scheme) means health practitioners can register once and practise anywhere in Australia. In most cases, the annual fees will apply from 10 September 2018.
Seven National Boards have held fees stable and four National Boards have increased fees by a rate of indexation of up to three per cent.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Health Practice, Chinese Medicine, Chiropractic, Occupational Therapy, Optometry, Osteopathy and Podiatry National Boards announced frozen fees.
The Dental, Medical, Psychology and Medical Radiation National Boards announced fee increases limited to indexation.
The Nursing and Midwifery, Pharmacy and Physiotherapy National Boards have announced fee increases above indexation. The fee increase by these three National Boards ensures their continuing ability to fund the costs of regulation of their profession and their ongoing financial sustainability.
Regulation of health practitioners in Australia is funded by fees from registered practitioners, without any funding from government.
The National Boards work in partnership with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) to keep the public safe by:
• Supporting annual registration to ensure only qualified, competent health practitioners can practice in Australia
• Developing of evidence-based and practice-tested standards, codes and guidelines
• Investigating concerns raised about registered health practitioners, and
• Accreditation of approved programs of study that lead to registration and endorsement.
AHPRA Chief Executive Officer, Martin Fletcher, said the fees set for all the National Boards reflect that the demands on the National Scheme are growing each year.
“We now have 700,000+ registered health practitioners across the professions and the numbers continue to grow. There has been an increase in our costs in particular in responding to an increase in complaints and we are investing in modernising our information technology systems in order to meet the public and practitioner expectation of quicker, online services,” said Mr. Fletcher.
“We work closely with National Boards to consider the fees very carefully. Registration fees must fully fund the costs of regulating each profession in the National Scheme.”
A fees schedule for each profession has been published on the National Board websites, including the fee arrangements for practitioners whose principal place of practice is New South Wales. Any variation to the fees payable by New South Wales practitioners is advised by the Health Professional Councils Authority (HPCA) in NSW.
