Currently, there is no nationally recognised list of allied health professionals across federal government funding schemes or departments or between States and Territories. Without such a list, it makes it difficult for lobbying activities and a consolidated understanding of who is an allied health professional and who is not.
What is Osteopathy Australia advocating for?
We recommend the Commonwealth Government commits to funding and endorsing the development of a nationally consistent list of allied health professions that will be used in policy and scheme determination.
Why this benefits Australians
- Greater consistency in the provision of care received between jurisdictions.
- Greater access to the allied health workforce.
- Potential reduction in costs of accessing certain care.
- Reduces the impact of current workforce shortages acknowledged across Australia by improving ability for practitioners to move between jurisdictions.
- Improves access and equity for Australians to healthcare.
Policy issues and barriers
- A nationally endorsed list of allied health professionals will help to remove barriers some professions face in working across different schemes and between jurisdictions. For example, while osteopathy is an allied health profession registered under the National Law, the recognition of osteopathy as an allied health profession differs from state to state and between healthcare schemes.
- There are barriers for practitioners working to their full scope of practice and can cause a maldistribution of practitioners affecting the accessibility of healthcare for the Australian population.