October 2022

Issue 30 - October 2022

• From the Chair
• Priority news
  • Have your say – understanding the Advertising guidelines
• Board news
  • Registration fee decreased for 2022/23
  • Registration renewal is open
  • Professional indemnity insurance alert
  • Information forum – Perth
• Students and graduates
  • Graduates – apply for registration now!
• What’s new?
  • Cosmetic surgery complaints line and resources hub launched
  • Extension of temporary acceptance of additional English language tests for registration applicants
  • Latest podcasts – listen up!
• National Scheme news
• Want more information?

From the Chair

Welcome to our new-look newsletter, we hope you enjoy the new format.

Registration renewal for chiropractors is now open and the Board has significantly reduced fees this year. We are delighted to be in the position to reduce fees, ensuring the sustainable finances needed to support the Board’s regulatory work, while maintaining the community’s trust and confidence in our profession.

The Board has commissioned the University of Melbourne to explore chiropractors’ understanding of the current Advertising guidelines. This is your chance to have a say and I encourage you to get involved. For information on how you can participate, read below.

Finally, for chiropractors in Western Australia, the Board will be holding an information forum in Perth in November. For information on how to register, read below.

We continue to encounter challenging times within our communities and we thank you for your continued commitment to keep the public safe.

Dr Wayne Minter AM
Chiropractor
Chair, Chiropractic Board of Australia 

Priority news

Have your say – understanding the Advertising guidelines

Researchers at the University of Melbourne are exploring chiropractors’ understanding of current advertising guidelines and any barriers they face in relation to implementing the guidelines. The research project has been commissioned by the Board.

Participating in the research project will involve a 90-minute online focus group that will be held in late November. All participants will be reimbursed $100 for their time.

To express your interest in participating, please complete the form. Dr Michelle Jongenelis would love to hear from you!

Note: This research is being conducted for and is funded by the Chiropractic Board of Australia. Please note that the Board and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) will not be involved in data collection or analysis and they will not have access to any data collected.

This study has been approved by the University of Melbourne’s Human Research Ethics Committee (2022-25290-32951-3).  

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Board news

Registration fee decreased for 2022/23

The Board is pleased to announce that registration fees have been reduced to $451 for chiropractors for 2022/23. This represents a 15 percent decrease in the annual registration fee. The fee for practitioners whose principal place of practice is New South Wales (a co-regulatory jurisdiction) is $408.

Practitioner registration fees fund the work of Ahpra and the National Boards to keep the public safe by:

• supporting national registration to ensure only qualified, safe, and professional health practitioners can practise in Australia
• developing evidence-based and practice-tested standards, codes, and guidelines
• accrediting programs of study that lead to registration and endorsement, and
• investigating concerns raised about registered health practitioners.

The National Boards work closely with Ahpra to keep fees as low as possible while continuing to meet regulatory obligations and the expectations of the public and practitioners.

Read more in the news item. 

Registration renewal is open

You have until 30 November 2022 to renew your general or non-practising registration on time.

We encourage you to renew early to avoid delays during the busy renewal period. Renewing on time also means you’ll avoid late fees which apply after 30 November 2022.

We recognise that the current economic and environmental situation may affect you in several ways, including financial hardship. If you are affected you can apply for consideration of financial hardship in relation to payment of the renewal fee.

Look out for an email from Ahpra providing access to online renewal.

Read more in the news item.

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Professional indemnity insurance alert

A reminder to check your professional indemnity insurance (PII) cover! Now is a good time as registration renewal is open and you must declare that you have PII cover when you renew.

Please check that your PII policy is appropriate for your practice as a chiropractor, current and paid because PII lapses can easily occur.

Important points about PII

It is a registration requirement that you are covered by PII – this can either be your own arrangement or via a third party, such as an employer.

See the Professional indemnity insurance arrangements registration standard.

• Practising without any or adequate indemnity insurance is taken seriously by the Board and will be investigated, because it is a statutory requirement to hold PII
• Failure to have insurance is never seen as an administrative oversight – it is a professional responsibility to ensure you have PII
• Practising without indemnity insurance calls into question your commitment to patient safety
• It is important that patients can recover any compensation they might be entitled to in the event of a successful claim
• PII can potentially have consequences for the wider public interest, which include the reputation of the profession and upholding standards of conduct and behaviour
• Do not base your annual declarations about PII on a guess – always check.

Tips to prevent PII shock

• Don’t assume that an employer has your PII covered, if you don’t have your own check in with your employer
• Check annually if your employer holds insurance for you
• Set reminders in your calendar about renewing PII
• Check your junk mail around PII renewal time
• Actively and manually look up your PII records to check currency when declaring at registration renewal
• Don’t delegate paying PII or renewing/declaring at registration to an administrative assistant, accountant, receptionist or colleague
• Check your bank account regularly for direct debit PII payments
• If you change banks, credit cards or any other payment options, check in with your provider to make sure they’re up to date
• Get retroactive cover for previous events if you change providers, and leave no gap in cover
• Store your PII policy in a folder with other records such as CPD, as you should visit and update this folder regularly.

What to do if you find that you do not hold PII

• Stop practising immediately.
• Notify Ahpra within seven days using the Notice of certain events form: Form - NOCE-00 - Notice of Certain Events.

If you fail to notify the Board of a gap in PII at the time, but instead declare this several months later, you have failed to comply with your obligations under the National Law. This is a serious matter that can become a ground for a notification about a practitioner, as it is considered professional misconduct.

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Information forum – Perth

We are pleased to invite chiropractors with a principal place of practice in Western Australia to the Board’s information forum.

The forum will include an update from the Board as well as information about the revised Code of conduct. The forum will not be live streamed or recorded so if you’d like to participate, please come along. If you are unable to attend you can get more information about the Code of conduct on the Board’s website.

To participate in the forum, please register your attendance to this free event as places are limited. We look forward to meeting you.

Students and graduates

Graduates – apply for registration now!

Welcome to the chiropractic profession.

Chiropractic graduates set to complete their course in the next three months can take the first step in their new career by applying for registration now. Applying before you finish your studies means we can start assessing your application while we wait for your graduate results.

Registration with the Board is required before you can start work – and means you can work anywhere in Australia.

You’ll find helpful advice, tips for avoiding common causes of delay and downloadable information flyers on the Graduate applications page of the Ahpra website. On that page, you can watch a video, Applying for graduate registration, and check out the accompanying flyer, Quick guide: how to apply.

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What’s new?

Cosmetic surgery complaints line and resources hub launched

Ahpra and the National Boards are committed to making cosmetic surgery safer. Patients who have been harmed by cosmetic surgery can now report their concerns to a hotline. Practitioners who are aware of unsafe cosmetic surgery practices are also encouraged to call.

Key points

• Our Cosmetic Surgery Hotline – 1300 361 041 is a new service for cosmetic surgery patients and concerned practitioners to tell us about their bad experiences. If we know about it, we can investigate it. The specialised notifications team is here to listen Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm AEDT. Concerns can also be lodged confidentially.
• We have also set up an online Cosmetic surgery hub that gathers helpful resources for practitioners and the public in one place.

The hotline and hub are part of the response by Ahpra and the Medical Board of Australia to the Independent review into the regulation of medical practitioners who perform cosmetic surgery.

Read more in the news item.

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Extension of temporary acceptance of additional English language tests for registration applicants

National Boards are accepting the TOEFL iBT® Home Edition test for applications received until 21 February 2023.

COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns have disrupted many English language tests and made it difficult for some applicants to use the English language test pathway to meet National Boards’ English language skills registration standards.

In response, earlier this year the National Boards established a temporary policy accepting the following additional language tests for a limited time:

• the OET computer-based test and the OET@home test for applications received until 21 February 2023, and
• the TOEFL iBT® Home Edition for applications received until 1 June 2022.

National Boards have now updated this temporary policy which means that, along with the OET computer based and OET@home tests, the TOEFL iBT® Home Edition will also be accepted, for applications received until 21 February 2023.

All other requirements set out in the National Boards' English language skills registration standards still apply. There are no changes to any other requirements in the standards, including minimum test scores.

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Latest podcasts – listen up!

Our Taking care podcast series covers a wide range of current issues in patient safety and healthcare in conversation with health experts and other people in our community. We also publish transcripts of our podcasts. Recent episodes include:

• the inextricable link between climate change and healthcare
• the unique world of rural and remote healthcare
• accessing safe healthcare when cost is an issue
• two conversations about caring for the LGBTIQA+ community, from the perspectives of patients and of practitioners
• safe healthcare for people experiencing homelessness
• safe healthcare for refugee and asylum seeker communities
• openness and candour – a road to greater patient safety.

Listen and subscribe by searching for Taking care in your podcast player (for example Apple Podcasts or Spotify), or listen on our website.

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National Scheme news

Click on the image below to visit our National Scheme newsletter page.