Foundation of Australian Healthcare System

Running head: Foundation of Australian Healthcare System 1
Foundation of Australian Healthcare System
(Author’s name)
(Institutional Affiliation)

Foundation of Australian Healthcare System 2
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulatory Agency (AHPRA) is a statutory body
enacted by Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009, to govern, control and
regulate all health practitioners in Australia (AHPRA 2012, p.1). AHPRA regulate equally each
state and territory as provided by the law. This regulatory body supports 15 national boards that
are responsible for regulating health professionals under the National Registration and
Accreditation Scheme. These boards are required to enter a health profession agreement with
AHPLA that determines the annual budget they use, fees that health practitioner are supposed to
pay and the services provided by AHPRA(AHRPA 2015,p.2). The boards are then required to
set policies and professional standards that all health practitioners in Australia are supposed to
meet. These fifteen boards control the following professions which include Chinese Medicine,
medical doctors, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice, dentists, nursing and
midwifery, medical radiation practice, chiropractic practice, occupational therapist, osteopathy,
optometry, podiatry, paramedicine, physiotherapy, pharmacy and psychology (AHRPA 2018,
p.1). AHPRA works in partnership with all the professional boards setting powers, roles, and
responsibility under the National Law. The National Law provides several guiding principles that
require the National Scheme to operate in an efficient, transparent, effective, accountable and in
fair way with reasonable registration fees (AHRPA 2012, p.5).
However, not all health professions are under the National Scheme and some therefore
only register through Medicaid to practice. One of these professions is Speech Pathologists.
Speech pathologists are involved in the study, diagnosis and treatment of communication
disorders including difficulties in listening, speaking, writing, reading, using of voice, stuttering
and social skills (Speech Pathology Australia, 2019). In a community and hospital settings,