On behalf of the Commonwealth Department of Health, the Australian Digital Health Agency advises that the SMS subsidy funding currently applied to the sending of electronic prescription tokens will be further extended from 31 March 2021 to 30 June 2021.

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The 17th World Rural Health Conference, led by the Rural Health Working Group of WONCA, has endorsed its rural health blueprint, the ‘Bangladesh Declaration 2021’.

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This year's International Women's Day theme #choosetochallenge is a powerful callout for everyone to work together towards gender equality. A first thought might be that this seems an aggressive call to arms, but it isn’t – as individuals we can all choose how, when and where we work to make change in our daily lives to make our workplaces equitable for all.

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The current release of Bp Premier product, ‘Saffron’, has the ability to record COVID-19 vaccination data including a valid serial number. While the recording of the vaccine data is now available, Best Practice is currently in the final stages of testing with Services Australia to ensure the vaccinations can be uploaded to the Australian Immunisation Registry via software to support the practices participating in the Phase 1B of the COVID-19 rollout.

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The National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce, which ACRRM is a part of, is commencing consultation on the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) guideline., and welcome frontline health care workers who have direct patient facing roles to join the IPC Frontline Healthcare Workers’ Consultation. They are currently seeking expressions of interest for participants to join the committee.

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Recent legislative changes have simplified recognition of General Practitioners (GPs) as specialists, streamlining access to higher Medicare rebates for your patients. GP access to Medicare will be determined by continued registration status with Ahpra. Medical practitioners who have been awarded fellowship must be registered as a Specialist GP with Ahpra.

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Newly passed legislation will see COVID-19 vaccines, once approved for use and administered in Australia, reported to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR). The new legislation also requires all Influenza vaccinations to be reported to AIR from 1 March 2021, with all other National Immunisation Program vaccinations to be reported from 1 July 2021 (such as MMR, HPV and pertussis vaccines). Previously reporting to AIR was at the discretion of vaccination providers with seasonal flu vaccinations, only reported at a rate of about 50%.

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While accredited activities you attend are reported by the education provider, we encourage you to self-report all your other professional development activities into your PD portfolio as this is a way to capture your everyday learning and reflect the real time spent on professional development.

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We’ve been making improvements to your PD portfolio and you might have noticed some new features including a professional development resources section and explanatory text in the ‘Add activity’ form to help you find the right category and a feedback button. You can also edit and delete most self-entered activities, so you have more control over your own professional development records.

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General Practice Training Queensland (GPTQ) has issued a call for nominations for candidates for the Board Director elections which will be held at the AGM scheduled for Tuesday 11 May 2021.

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The Department of Health has invited the College to nominate a representative to participate in the National Initial Assessment and Referral (IAR) Project Expert Advisory Group (EAG). The role of the IAR EAG is to ensure the project is clinically sound and evidence based by providing expert advice regarding the development of national guidance and resources.

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The Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) ECG Review Committee has been formed to consider the changes to cardiac imaging services which were recommended by the MBS Taskforce. The first stage of these changes were implemented in August 2020 and included changes to items for electrocardiograms.

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This month, the College submitted its feedback to the Department of Health on the draft National Medical Workforce Strategy. The College is a member on the Medical Workforce Reform Advisory Committee which oversights the Strategy and continues to contribute to its development.

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The Medical Board of Australia (the Board) is consulting on a draft revised registration standard for Endorsement of registration for acupuncture for registered medical practitioners.

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The College is seeking a representative to join the Management Team of the Rural and Remote Health Journal. The role of the management committee is to consider how to increase the readership, reach and financial sustainability of the journal. It is well supported by the Journal’s editorial team.

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The College has been invited to provide a representative for the National Strategic Blood forum, which will be held on Wednesday 31 March by videconference. This presenter will be participating in a session to discuss the current and future blood requirements for different settings, including regional and remote medicine, chronic transfusion support, in the emergency department and for hospital retrieval, followed by a discussion panel.

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The Faculty of Pain Medicine, Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists is currently leading a project to develop a pain management education strategy for Australian health practitioners. The project is funded by the federal Department of Health and supports Goal Three of the National Strategic Action Plan for Pain Management.

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The Faculty of Pain Medicine, Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists is currently leading a federal Department of Health-funded project to develop an overarching pain management education strategy for Australian health practitioners.

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During the transition to Active Ingredient Prescribing, the Department has agreed to provide a six-month grace period for pharmacy, ceasing 31 July 2021. Within this period, if a pharmacy receives a prescription that does not meet active ingredient prescribing requirements the pharmacists have been advised to contact the prescriber and request the prescription be re-issued in accordance with the requirements that come into effective on 1 February 2021.

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As part of the Australian Government’s pandemic response, a change will be made in the My Health Record system so that COVID-19 pathology reports are available to patients in their My Health Record sooner. This change has been made in consultation with industry and government stakeholders.

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