Medical board’s $1027 rego fee ‘extortionate’, says Professor Steve Robson
The AMA president says that Medical Board of Australia fees are “extortionate” and “unjustified” as doctors pay $1027 to renew their registration this year.
The medical board is the first of AHPRA’s 15 boards to charge a four-figure registration fee, having increased the annual rate by $32 ahead of the 2024-25 renewal period.
Doctors must pay up by 30 September or face an additional $30 late fee.
The AMA president says that fees going past $1000 has been symbolically distressing for doctors, even if it was only a 3.2% increase on last year’s fee.
“You’ve got $3000 or $4000 in college fees, $50,000 per year for indemnity cover, and now you’ve got over $1000 for AHPRA as the cherry on top,” says Professor Robson, an obstetrician.
“We’re starting to get into the $60,000-$70,000 range [of annual payments for doctors to practise].”
He says that politicians worried about media recriminations have forced AHPRA to extent its remit into new areas.
But MPs should not expect doctors to pay for “fanciful projects” unrelated to routine regulation, such as the crackdown on cosmetic surgery, he said.
While these projects were important, “if health ministers want them, health ministers should invest in them”.
Other national boards also raised their fees this year, in many cases by 4% or slightly more.
But doctors will still pay hundreds of dollars more than any other profession to stay registered.
Dentists will pay the second highest annual renewal fee, $785, while nurses and midwives will pay just $185.
Four boards, including the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, froze their fees.
AHPRA CEO Martin Fletcher said he was “acutely aware” that health practitioners were dealing with a cost-of-living crisis but fee increases were “necessary to ensure we can continue our work and meet our regulatory obligations”.
The $1027 fee does not apply to NSW doctors, working under the state’s co-regulatory system, who will instead pay a $956 renewal fee.
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