Government & Industry Submissions
Representing the interests of NHAA members and the professions of Western herbal medicine and naturopathy, the NHAA Board regularly works on submissions to Government and related industry bodies in a range of areas. See below for more information and copies of the submissions.
ARONAH Competency Guidelines consultation - May 2013
This was the second stage of ARONAHs development of their standards and guidelines and they have called for consultation on their proposed competency guidelines. More info on the consultation process can be found at: http://www.aronah.org/current-consultations/. Click on the links below for copies of NHAA's submission documents and ARONAH's categories of registration.
NHAA_ARONAH_Standards_and_Guidelines.pdf
ARONAH_Limited-Registration_NHAAcomments.pdf
Permitted indications for listed medicines March 2013
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is part of the Government Dept of Health and Ageing and regulates complementary medicines (CM's), including managing the listing of these on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG). The TGA is seeking to improve the integrity of the certifications process for listing CM's on the ARTG by finalising the permitted (coded) indications that can be used, in order to limit the use of inappropriate claims and indications. Feedback was sought from the industry on the proposed changes to the method in which indications are included on the ARTG. They posed some general questions relating to the proposed changes and also sought industry specific information on the key issues of the consultation with regards to whether or not the proposed changes were supported.
Download: Consultation document: Permitted indications for listed medicines
Download: NHAA Submission: Permitted indications for listed medicines
ARONAH Standards & Guidelines consultation March 2013
The Australian Register of Naturopaths and Herbalists (ARONAH) was established to develop minimum standards of education and practice for naturopathy and herbal medicine. They requested input from all major stakeholders in these professions into the first draft of the following standards and guidelines documents: Code of Conduct; Advertising; CPD; Patient records; Proof of Identity; Insurance requirements; English language proficiency; Criminal history; Recency of practice.
For more information on ARONAH go to www.aronah.org
Review of Govt PHI rebate for natural therapies Jan 2013
The 2012-2013 Federal budget included proposed changes to the regulatory framework of private health insurance and announced a review of the PHI rebate for natural therapies. For practitioners, this meant the eligibility of various modalities would be reviewed to ascertain if the Government should continue to subsidise health fund rebates for those with PHI. I.e. patients may no longer be able to claim for services such as naturopathy and herbal medicine from their private health insurer.
Read more: Review of Govt PHI rebate for natural therapies Jan 2013
Evidence to support indications for listed medicines August 2012
The NHAA did not do a submission to the TGA on this issue for a number of reasons. Some members also expressed concerns that this will lead to a similar situation as has been experienced in the UK and America.
Read more: Evidence to support indications for listed medicines August 2012