every practitioner $500 a year? On their site, they boast about 'registering 630, 000+ practitioners' and assuming that everyone pays $500 a year, that's at least $315 MILLION in revenue. What is the money used for? Protecting the public from practitioners that can't afford to pay their fees? It just highlights their one real purpose: MONEY to line their fat pockets. They are obviously aware of the challenges that a Chinese medicine practitioner faces, like patients are having to be completely out of pocket unless they have private health cover and Medicare covering GPs performing 'acupuncture' without understanding the underlying theory. To deny any allowances for a struggling practitioner practically screams 'we don't give a shit about practitioners, just give us our money', making our profession one for the privileged.
Most people don't know the difference the quality of the service between an acupuncturist that has learnt the art for years, and a GP's skills learnt from a weekend course. But still, most people will go for the 'shit but free' over 'quality and having to pay'. It takes years for a practitioner to build up their reputation and earn a viable living, often being forced to take on jobs on the side to pay for the following annual fees: - AHPRA registration - Association fees (both of which are legally required) - First aid course - Professional insurance - CPD 'points' (paid seminars! YAY) All of this amounts to over a thousand dollars, whether or not you are earning enough. Most of the other professions are covered by medicare, so they have no problems getting patients, but how is a first year Chinese medicine practitioner supposed to pay for all of that and still be able to afford to cover all the expenses involved in running a business as well as living expenses? This DOES NOT do the public ANY FAVOURS, It forces practitioners into survival mode, often compromising the quality of care over the money that they have earn to make ends meet, such as shortening treatments and making services unaffordable for the average person. I've applied to be part of the reference group for the Chinese Medicine Board which aims to "enhance a common understanding of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme from the differing perspectives of key stakeholders".. I wonder if this post is going to jeopardise my chances? At this point, I'm too pissed off to care. Hey AHPRA, here is what I think of your stupid fees and payment policy:
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