AHPRA’s model for charging registration fees has resulted in unfair financial outcomes for some medical practitioners, including those taking or returning from parental leave, an investigation by the National Health Practitioner Ombudsman has concluded.
Prompted by complaints from three health professionals who were forced to pay the mandatory registration fee twice within three months, the investigation found that people registering outside of their profession’s standard registration cycle were sometimes disadvantaged by the way AHPRA charged its fees.
“These practitioners have rightly said that being charged a registration fee that is described as an ‘annual’ or ‘one-off’ payment more than once in the same year seems unfair,” Ombudsman Richelle McCausland said in the report released on Thursday.
Health professionals aren’t “immune from the cost-of-living pressures currently facing many Australians,” she noted.
Some medical practitioners were required to pay $3600 in fees within three months.
Those taking or returning from parental leave, registering for the first time or changing registration types appeared to be more negatively affected by the policy, which required practitioners pay a renewal fee on a set date each year, regardless of when they first received registration, Ms McCausland explained.
The investigation also found inconsistencies and inaccuracies on AHPRA’s website regarding how fees would be charged.
“Notably, Ahpra’s website previously inaccurately stated that the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law does not allow for fees to be pro-rated or make provision to partially refund fees,” NHPO policy and communications manager Lara Beissbarth said. AHPRA has since updated its website to remove this.
The report includes several examples of the hardship AHPRA’s misinformation has caused – for example who unwittingly paid the full registration fee, not realising that she would have to renew it and pay again just three months later.
“She maintained that if she had been informed that she would only hold registration for 3 months before being required to renew her registration, she would have held off applying for registration as she did not have an income at the time.”
In another example, a trainee doctor who had qualified internationally paid the $1,700 application and registration fees in September of 2022, noting that she worked part time and planned to take unpaid maternity leave in November 2023.
“Despite this, she said she was required to pay the full fee to renew her registration in September ($1,025) so she could continue to practise for the intervening period,” which amounted to just five weeks of the 12-month registration period.
The report also noted that while AHPRA’s response to initial findings acknowledged it was appropriate for the Ombudsman to detail complaints about the charging model, “it was concerned that including information about other fee related complaints ‘tends to inflate the overall level of concern from health practitioners about the charging model’ and is misleading.”
“We otherwise note that the number of complaints received about the charging model is extremely low compared to the number of registered health practitioners both applying for and maintaining registration each year and even when compared to the most likely impacted cohort of practitioners who first register outside the annual renewal period,” AHPRA stated.
Despite this, AHPRA has now introduced a 30% rebate for eligible practitioners and begun a wider review of its pro rata fees strategy.
“We accept the finding that public-facing information about the charging model has, at times, lacked clarity and consistency,” AHPRA acknowledged in its response, which is included in the appendix of the report. “Work is already underway to improve the accuracy and accessibility of information on our website and in registration forms.”
AHPRA says it has accepted the Ombudsman’s suggestions for improvement, which included ensuring “transparency, consistency and fair outcomes for practitioners,” “appropriate mechanisms to waive or reimburse fees in certain circumstances,” and reviewing and updating public facing information about the charging model to ensure it is accurate across all registration types and profession.
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