Regional Victorians can seek information about their chronic pain conditions from world-leading pain scientists as part of the 2020 Pain Revolution Rural Outreach Bicycle Tour kicking off in Geelong on Saturday March 7.
Our members like many allied health workers are focused on the general health and wellbeing of the community. The COVID-19 pandemic places an added level of complexity and concern for patient care. The current situation is significantly affecting services and businesses everywhere. Our priority will always be with patients, the safety of practice staff and continuity of your practices.
Tuesday 31 March 2020: Temporary Telehealth Builk Billing items announced
We would like to congratulate Craig Purdam, FACP, and Adrian Rumore, APAM, who were awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia on Australia Day. Craig and Adrian have both contributed greatly to our profession and helped advance physiotherapy in Australia—their recognition is well deserved.
Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division
O'Connor ACT 2602
For service to sports administration, and to physiotherapy.
Australian Institute of Sport
Further to our earlier communications about private health insurance reform relating to Pilates, the Department of Health has appointed an expert panel of advisors for its 2019-2020 review of the rebate for natural therapies.
The role of the advisory panel is to provide advice to the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Brendan Murphy, about the 16 excluded natural therapies and any additional evidence of their clinical effectiveness published since the original 2014-15 review.
A national climate strike occurred in all major capital cities and regional centres on Friday 20 September. Businesses and organisations joined school students in calling for climate change action.
The APA acknowledges the scientific evidence which shows that climate change is a growing global health, environmental and economic concern.
Our members are concerned that the effects of climate change will have direct and indirect implications on the health and wellbeing of all Australians, particularly on our ability to stay physically active.
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs Treatment Cycle is set to go ahead on 1 October and the APA has been working with the department on a number of components.
We have advocated strongly to secure a report writing fee in the fee schedule for allied health providers in recognition of the additional work involved in administering the initiative. DVA has agreed to a $30 fee and to creating a simple report template for allied health providers to use when reporting on their patients’ conditions to GPs.
The APA has written to the Minister of Veterans, the Hon Darren Chester MP, and met with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to call for a three-month delay in the launch of the Treatment Cycle Initiative (TCI).
While we support collaborative care, we do not support the rushed manner of the roll out, which is scheduled to begin on 1 July. We are concerned about serious consequences on veteran care, including:
The Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) has urged the federal government to invest further funds into the allied health workforce in order to address the growing burden of chronic and complex disease in our communities.