President’s update: crazy socks, eyeball docs, MBS and NRAS

Hello and happy Friday… and happy Crazy Socks 4 Docs Day! 

This year’s event is being launched in Western Australia today by the founder of Crazy Socks 4 Docs, Dr Geoff Toogood, with this year's focus on our healthcare systems and the systemic changes needed to support doctors’ mental health and wellbeing.

Crazy Socks 4 Docs isn’t just about the socks — it’s just a prompt to start conversations about doctor wellbeing. And with that, it is so desperately important that we understand doctor wellbeing as a structural and systematic issue and not just something that is the onus of the individual alone. Healthy workplaces and healthy workloads are vital for healthy doctors. This is something we have been pursuing through the Every Doctor Every Setting framework as part of the National Doctors Health and Wellbeing Leadership Alliance.

Doctors take best care of patients when we are healthy ourselves. Caring for others can take its toll, and it’s so important that doctors have the resources to seek help. Sadly, we still have rates of mental illness and suicide above and beyond the rest of the population. And that’s not ok.

In other news, it was lovely to attend the AMAQ Dinner for the Profession last week. Wonderful as always seeing people getting awards; a great reminder that there are people out there doing incredible things. I always find celebrating the work of our colleagues so inspiring. And congratulations to Dr Nick Yim who has also been re-elected as AMAQ President.

Our Vice-President, Associate Professor Julian Rait attended the Australian Society of Ophthalmologists (ASO) Skills Expo in Brisbane last weekend (while I was stuck in bed with a virus 😢). Julian gave a great talk on the future for private doctors as keynote of the Dr Andrew Stewart Lecture, drawing on learnings from his recent USA travels regarding perhaps what paths we should not follow.

As a bonus it was great for Julian to get some face time with the QLD Health Minister and bend his ear about the importance of profession-led training, standards and accreditation and the role of colleges, as well as health workforce issues more broadly. 

On Tuesday we held our MBS Compliance Webinar. We had a fantastic turnout, and it was a wonderful opportunity to get an update on the latest updates and best practices for compliance with the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS). Thanks to the Benefits Integrity Division of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing for hosting the webinar which underscored the importance of continuous education and vigilance in navigating the complexities of the MBS. We're hoping to have a recording of the webinar in the coming weeks so keep an eye out in Rounds for that one. As we discussed in the webinar, the AMA is constantly advocating for a better system through policy change, but we also strive to support members to understand the rules as they are today. 

Yesterday I met with Sue Dawson to discuss the second and final consultation paper on the review into complexity in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS). We had a robust discussion about our key areas of concerns. Unfortunately many of concerns raised in our first submission to the complexity review still remain, in relation to accreditation, scheme costs and funding, as well as with the use of the scheme being repurposed into solving workforce issues.

We will continue to work in this important space so we can advocate for members, ensuring doctor wellbeing is truly front and centre in any future reforms to the complaints process, . Again, we’ll have more to say as this unfolds.

Looking ahead I'm in Sydney this weekend for the Council of Private Specialist Practice meeting, which is bringing together several key groups to talk about private maternity care and how to address the challenges it is facing, then off to the Northern Territory for the next leg of the Presidential Roadshow. I look forward to updating you all on this next week!