Ahpra and the National Board have released updated information guides to help health practitioners and employers/practice managers understand the requirements to deliver safe and effective telehealth/virtual care services.
Please read this information carefully if you conduct telehealth or virtual care services.
There are separate guides for health practitioners, employers/managers, and the public.
Please take special note of the section that relates to registration requirements. There are sections for Australian registered health practitioners who are located overseas and providing services to clients in Australia, providing care to clients located overseas and information for practitioners registered outside Australia and providing care to Australian clients.
These are summarised below:
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Providing virtual care to patients in Australia when located overseas
Australian registered health practitioners located outside Australia wanting to provide virtual care services to patients in Australia are expected to continue to comply with the relevant National Boards’ regulatory frameworks including standards, codes, and guidelines.
National Boards expect that you will:
- be transparent about your location and inform your patients about any associated risks or impacts
- ensure you have appropriate professional indemnity insurance arrangements in place for all aspects of your practice, including virtual care consultations and ensure you have adequate coverage when based outside Australia
- ensure that you are meeting your ethical and legal obligations to protect the privacy of patients and that your patients’ personal health information is safely stored, and practitioners and patients should be aware that the information may be stored outside Australia and subject to additional privacy legislation and requirements for regulating and storing health records
- check with the regulatory authority for your profession in the jurisdiction you intend to practise and with Australian health services and funders such as Medicare in relation to any other requirements these bodies may have, and
- ensure you adequately maintain quality continuity of care and referral networks in Australia, to enable safe referral of patients if/when required.
Providing virtual care to patients outside Australia.
Registered health practitioners in Australia who wish to provide virtual care services to patients located outside Australia are expected to continue to comply with the relevant National Boards’ regulatory frameworks including standards, codes, and guidelines, including ensuring they hold appropriate professional indemnity insurance.
These practitioners should check whether they are required to be registered by the relevant regulatory authority for their profession in the country where the patient is located and comply with legislative requirements in that jurisdiction, including for prescribing and professional indemnity insurance.
Information for practitioners registered outside Australia.
Practitioners who are registered outside Australia are expected to be registered by the relevant National Board for their profession in Australia before providing a health service to patients located in Australia, including virtual care services. Limited exceptions may apply in circumstances where the patient is located in Australia, managed by an Australian-registered practitioner, and another practitioner is providing a second opinion or advice to that practitioner.
Refer the relevant National Board’s website for more information about registration, including when the Board expects a practitioner will be registered.
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Further information can be found here.