Important Statement for Medical Practitioners about the 2025 Renewals Process
The purpose of this statement is to advise medical practitioners that AMPS is actively engaging with AHPRA on matters pertaining to difficulties with the registration renewals process in the context of the National Law and the new on-line platform.
AHPRA’s updated on-line registration portal requires health-care practitioners to now register to use multi-factor authentication (MFA), but there have been bugs and errors in AHPRA’s internal pathways which have, unfortunately again, resulted in delays and problems with completing professional registrations.
As such, representatives of AMPS have been contacted by many concerned doctors expressing frustration about their struggles with AHPRA’s processes, particularly over the last couple of weeks. The feedback which we have received and have read about, has been staggeringly critical of AHPRA. There’s the perennial annoyance about AHPRA’s repetitive workforce questions, for example the name of the medical school and other questions with immutable answers, all of which AHPRA has on record.
However, this year has involved exasperation about the more complicated process with web re-registration, described by some senior doctors as “bureaucratic double-talk” and “user-unfriendly snafu” which seems “aimed at driving out a large percentage of older doctors”.
Some doctors have publicly stated that they have decided not to renew their registrations solely based on this experience, and some retired doctors have gleefully stated that not having to deal with AHPRA gives them joy. This is damning in terms of care for the Australian public.
There have also been multiple statements about AHPRA sending e-mails from ‘no-reply’ e-mail addresses but then asking practitioners to reply to said unmonitored e-mail addresses.
Accordingly, we contacted Jason McHeyzer (AHPRA National Director, Regulatory Operations Transformation) and Justin Untersteiner (AHPRA CEO), last week, and were advised of the following:
Situation – AHPRA recognises that some medics have had challenges with its new on-line portal and MFA system, which was introduced to enhance protection of the personal data of over 950,000 health-care practitioners from cyber threats.
Earlier this year, a similar situation affected nurses and midwives, although to a much worser degree, the lessons from which have allowed AHPRA to now respond with increased assistance and in a timelier fashion. Note that renewals undertaken after 30 September, shall, as usual, attract late payment penalties.
Support – All doctors are able to access AHPRA’s help resources, such as step-by-step guides and troubleshooting tips, and there is also a specifically expanded customer service centre to assist the 75% of doctors who have not yet renewed for 2025-2026.
Mr. McHeyzer stated that the average call wait is now <5 minutes, but various doctors have specifically stated that they were queuing for between 1 and 3 hours.
Summary – In the context of medical registrations, AHPRA has provided categorical reassurance that as long as a doctor submits the renewal (including payment) on time (i.e., by 30 September, 2025), they shall remain as registered practitioners and may continue to practise as normal, even if the processing of registrations is delayed on AHPRA’s side, so as not to disadvantage patients in any way.
We appreciate that it is very possible that some practitioners may not even be able to get to the payment page or successfully process payments due to errors on AHPRA’s end. Accordingly, we recommend that screenshots are taken and that contemporaneous notes are kept, just in case evidence were to become necessary.
AMPS is monitoring the situation and we invite feedback in order to assist practitioners where appropriate. by Dr. Niro SIVATHASAN (NSW Branch Secretary) and Dr. Duncan SYME (President) of AMPS (Australian Medical Professionals’ Society) #AHPRA #AMPS