Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine

The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) is one of the two Australian Medical Council (AMC) accredited general practice Colleges in Australia.

The College provides general practice vocational training and professional development as well as advocacy and support for current and prospective rural doctors. All College endeavours are directed to meeting the special needs and exigencies of providing highest quality comprehensive, continuing medical care in rural and remote communities.

The College has been part of an international movement to promote the concept of Rural Generalist Medicine as an important model of medical practice to support quality health services in rural and remote communities. The College is a signatory to the Cairns Consensus Statement of Rural Generalist Medicine endorsed by 23 national and international medical organisations.[1]

ACRRM has a current membership of around 4,000 including fellows, registrars, practitioners and students.[2]

History

ACRRM was incorporated in 1997 by the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA).

In 1998 the College published the first edition of its ACRRM Primary Curriculum. It is currently in its 4th edition.[3]

In 2002 the College's Professional Development Program (PDP) was formally recognized by the federal government as a mechanism for maintenance of Vocational Recognition (VR) for general practitioners in Australia.[4]

ACRRM received initial accreditation from the Australian Medical Council (AMC) in February 2007, and was included in the Australian Medicare legislation in April 2007.[2] Full accreditation was achieved in October 2011. The College's AMC accreditation status has been upheld since that time.

With these changes the College was able to receive government approval.

College presidents

Status and recognition within Australian regulatory framework

College Fellowship status within Legislation and Regulations governing Medicare


Ratified Fellows of the ACRRM can attain vocational recognition as a general practitioner. This means that they can be recognised as a general practitioner in Australia and through this can become eligible to deliver services that attract a Medicare rebate.

This eligibility was achieved in 2007 through a change to the Health Insurance Regulations (1975),[5] gazetted underneath the Health Insurance Act (1973).[6] These two documents define the conditions for vocational recognition of General Practitioners and provide three pathways to attaining this:

  1. Section 3EA of The Health Insurance Act 1973 allows doctors to gain a 'determination' as a General Practitioner if they are General Practitioners if they are Fellows of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
  2. Section 3F of The Health Insurance act 1973 allows doctors to gain a determination as a General Practitioner if they meet the requirements set out by Medicare Australia. This is the Vocational Register. This list is held by the CEO of Medicare Australia.
  3. The third pathway relevant to Fellows of ACRRM is held in Section 6DA of The Health Insurance Regulations 1975. This section allows doctors to seek a determination that they are a General Practitioner if they 'meet ACRRM fellowship standards'. This regulation was added in April 2007 by the authority of the Governor General.[7]

Recognition of Rural and Remote Medicine as a separate specialty by the Australian Medical Council


The College initially sought recognition of Rural and Remote Medicine as a unique medical specialty in Australia through the Australian Medical Council (AMC).[8]

This application was hotly debated with the AMC receiving 326 submissions for its deliberations. The application was rejected by the then Minister for Health and Ageing, Hon Tony Abbott MP.[9]

The AMC Review Group considered that "applying a broad definition of general practice, the practice of rural and remote medicine is largely general practice."[10] Additional comments said that "there is as yet no other instance in Australia of two organisations defining the standards of medical practice and the standards for training and assessment in one medical specialty.....the AMC had agreed this should be possible."[10]

In light of these comments, on 22 December 2005 Minister Abbott released funding to the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine to further develop its rural doctor vocational training programs for assessment and accreditation within the specialty of 'general practice'.[11]

Accreditation by the Australian Medical Council


The College and its educational programs were subsequently assessed by the AMC and ACRRM and was granted initial accreditation as a standards body and provider of specific training and professional development program for the specialty of general practice in 2007. This decision included accreditation of training leading to Fellowship of ACRRM and of the ACRRM Professional Development Program. The AMC awarded the College Full accreditation as a provider of specialist medical training in general practice in 2011. Full accreditation status has been maintained since that time.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Cairns Consensus Statement of Rural Generalism". World Summit Rural Generalist Medicine. Society of Rural Physicians of Canada. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine". ACRRM. Archived from the original on 25 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-22.
  3. ↑ name="Primary Curriculum">Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine. "ACRRM Primary Curriculum 4th edition" (PDF). Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine. ACRRM. Retrieved 11 Nov 2016.
  4. ↑ ACRRM Annual Report 2002-03. "President's Report" (PDF). Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine. Retrieved 11 Nov 2016.
  5. ↑ "Health Insurance Regulations 1975". ComLaw. Attorney General's Department. Retrieved 2007-09-26.
  6. ↑ "Health Insurance Act 1973". ComLaw. Attorney General's Department. Retrieved 2007-09-26.
  7. ↑ "Health Insurance Amendment Regulation 2007 (No. 1)". ComLaw. Attorney General's Department. Retrieved 2007-09-26.
  8. ↑ "Recognition of Medical Specialties". Australian Medical Council. Archived from the original on 14 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
  9. ↑ "Status of Current Applications for Recognition". Australian Medical Council. Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
  10. 1 2 "Final Report. Assessment of rural and remote medicine as a medical specialty" (PDF). Australian Medical Council. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-27.pg 72
  11. ↑ "More support for rural and remote medicine" (PDF). Australian Government Department for Health. 22 December 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 September 2006.
  12. ↑ Australian Medical Council. "Accreditation Report: Training Leading to Fellowship of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, Feb 2015" (PDF). Australian Medical Council Ltd. AMC Ltd. Retrieved 11 Nov 2016.

External links

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