Australia’s health ministers have agreed in-principle to national Ahpra registration of audiologists but consultation continues, and audiometrists are now seeking to be included if their audiology colleagues go down this path.
ACAud inc HAASA and Audiology Australia are concerned that exclusion of audiometrists from registration under the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) could negatively impact audiometrists and the public.
The health ministers have agreed in-principle to registration of audiologists under the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS), including Ahpra registration, pending further work to inform a final decision.
In December 2024, Queensland Health advised that its Consultation Paper 2 Audiology Decision RIS (Regulatory Impact Statement) had been released and the next stage of consultation would run until 7 February 2025.
Audiologists and audiometrists have been urged to read the paper and provide input on their future.
“This work includes targeted consultation with stakeholders to consider costs, implementation, risks, and impacts on First Nations communities,” a Queensland Health spokesperson told HPA.
Meanwhile the Australian College of Audiology including HAASA (ACAud inc HAASA) CEO Mr Miguel Diaz said ACAud inc HASSA was “strongly advocating for the inclusion of audiometrists in any move towards regulation.”
“Audiometrists and audiologists both play critical roles in adult hearing rehabilitation, often working side by side,” he told HPA.
“A move to only regulate audiologists could have a negative impact not only on audiometrists but also on the availability and accessibility of hearing services to the public.
“ACAud inc HAASA has been involved in the Decision RIS consultation process including making a written submission to the Decision RIS Project Team and through direct communications with all state and territory health ministers as well as the federal health minister”.
The organisation wrote to its members in December inviting them to take part in the phase two consultation. Diaz said a virtual Q and A session on 8 January 2025 to discuss “this critically important topic” and what members could do to ensure the message was getting through to state health ministers had great engagement from members.
Audiology Australia (AudA) is also concerned about potential exclusion of audiometry.
“Audiology Australia has conducted two town hall meetings and invited members to provide written feedback through our website,” AudA CEO Ms Leanne Emerson told HPA.
“This feedback will inform our written response to the targeted consultation. We have also asked members to indicate their support or otherwise for the regulation under NRAS (Ahpra) in our Member Survey.
“While regulation under the NRAS is one avenue for achieving title protection and greater protections for the community, we remain concerned about the exclusion of audiometry.
“The Decision RIS is intended to cover regulation across all aspects of audiology, yet the latest consultation paper overlooks the integration and overlap between audiology and audiometry in many other areas of hearing health, notably, adult rehabilitation.”
Three-tiered model of regulation
Emerson said that in a scenario where audiology was regulated under the NRAS but audiometry was not (the current scope of the review), there could be “unintended consequences such as a dilution of clinical protections, impact to consumer confidence in one or both professions and greater confusion for the community”.
“At the same time, the health ministers have established an independent review of complexity in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme, which could provide all of the benefits of regulation under NRAS, in a more integrated way,” she added.
“The review has proposed a three-tiered model of regulation that would create greater consistency, parity and recognition across all health professions and remove areas of unproductive and unnecessary complexity, benefitting audiologists, audiometrists, and the public.”
Independent Audiologists Australia (IAA) executive officer Ms Julie Watts said Consultation Paper 2 represented an important milestone in the journey toward audiology’s inclusion in the NRAS.
“Further consultations are now underway to shape the final decision. IAA looks forward to our scheduled interview with the Audiology Decision-RIS Project Team,” she said.
“This is an invaluable opportunity to share insights into our profession’s service delivery and regulatory processes, ensuring independent audiologists have a strong voice in shaping the future and that patient safeguarding remains at the centre of this discussion.”
Watts said that from 9 December 2024, the public submission process was live on the Queensland Health website and encouraged members and stakeholders to share their perspectives directly with the Audiology Decision-RIS Project Team.
The Deloitte Audiology Decision-RIS Project Team can be contacted here.
Background
At the 16 August 2024 health ministers’ meeting, the Ministerial Council considered the Decision RIS. Ministers agreed in-principle to inclusion of the audiology profession in the NRAS, however requested further work to inform a final decision.
At the 5 September 2024 Health Workforce Taskforce meeting, members discussed steps for progressing the requested work. It was agreed that the Queensland Health project team would progress the next phase of research and analysis with a planned update to the Ministerial Council in early 2025.
Targeted consultation to inform this next phase of research and analysis will occur from late 2024 through to early 2025. The consultation process includes one-on-one interviews and focus groups with selected stakeholders.
All other stakeholders are invited to provide input via a public written submission process hosted on the Queensland Health website. This consultation paper is intended to guide and inform the stakeholder consultation.
This scope of stakeholder consultation includes gathering feedback on implementation considerations associated with national registration of the audiology profession under the NRAS including timing, costs, and the feasibility of a multiprofession board or a board with two professions.
The Decision RIS of the audiology profession defined the audiology profession as referring to the audiologist workforce, rather than the audiologist and audiometrist workforce.
“To this end, the Decision RIS only considered options for the regulation of audiologists. This current phase of research and analysis retains this definition of the audiology profession, and thus regulation of the audiometrist profession is considered out of scope for consultation,” the consultation paper states.
“However, it is recognised that there are risks and potential unintended consequences to the audiometry profession if the audiology profession is included under the NRAS. Consideration of risks and unintended consequences to the audiometry profession is thus considered in-scope for consultation.”
$500 fee for registration
The paper said that as a result of national registration, there may be increases to professional indemnity insurance costs which could affect audiologists and potentially audiometrists.
Drawing on benchmarks from other professions and advice from Ahpra, the Decision RIS estimated that practitioner registration fees would be approximately $500 per year for practising audiologists and $100 for non-practising audiologists if a single Audiology National Board was established.
These costs may be reduced by 40% to 70% under a multiprofession National Board or a Board with two or more professions, it added.
Provide a written submission to Queensland Health by Friday 7 February 2025 5pm AEST. Submit feedback here.
