The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), which is made up of 14 national boards and governs most of the health professions in Australia, has published revised guidelines for advertising, mandatory notifications, codes of conduct and introduced a social media policy. These will come into effect from mid-March.

Advertising

With the new Guidelines for advertising regulated health services, AHPRA has made it clear that testimonials must not be included in advertising.  A breach of the advertising laws carries a maximum fine of $10,000 for a corporation or $5,000 for an individual for each offence. Services cannot be advertised in a way that creates an unreasonable expectation of beneficial treatment, or in a way that encourages the indiscriminate or unnecessary use of regulated health services.

The use of the title “Dr” in advertising must provide clarity around the relevant health profession – e.g. Dr Isobel Jones (Dentist). Abbreviations which can mislead the public, e.g. “pod”, “psych” or “RN” should be avoided.

Social Media

AHPRA’s Social media policy gives details on how health practitioners need to comply with their professional obligations on social media. It states that practitioners must comply with their confidentiality and privacy obligations, must present information in a way that it is unbiased and evidence-based, and must not make unsubstantiated claims.

Mandatory notifications

Certain conduct by a health practitioner must be reported to AHPRA in order to prevent the public being placed at risk of harm. The notification guidelines are relevant to health practitioners registered under the national law, employers of practitioners and education providers. The guidelines state:

“Section 140 of the National Law defines ‘notifiable conduct’ as when a practitioner has:

(a)   practised the practitioner’s profession while intoxicated by alcohol or drugs; or

(b)   engaged in sexual misconduct in connection with the practice of the practitioner’s profession; or

(c)   placed the public at risk of substantial harm in the practitioner’s practice of the profession because the practitioner has an impairment; or

(d)   placed the public at risk of harm because the practitioner has practised the profession in a way that constitutes a significant departure from accepted professional standards”

Code of Conduct

Most of the health professions governed by AHPRA have a shared code of conduct. This document contains guidelines about providing good care, working with patients or clients, working with other practitioners, working within the healthcare system, minimising risk, maintaining professional performance, professional behaviour, ensuring practitioners health, teaching, supervising & assessing, and undertaking research.

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