Media release

20 Dec 2013

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) has launched a new data exchange service which will better protect the public, while saving time and money in the health sector.

AHPRA launches new data service

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) has launched a new data exchange service which will better protect the public, while saving time and money in the health sector.

Known as the practitioner information exchange (PIE), the service offers immediate access to AHPRA’s data about health practitioners that is currently published on the register of practitioners. The service enables bulk data-transfer about a number of selected practitioners (eg those employed in a particular hospital), while the public register is only searchable name by name.

Healthcare organisations in Australia face a daily requirement to make sure their health practitioners meet the standards set by health regulators and have up to date registration. Employers need to know about the registration status of the people they employ.

PIE makes sure up to date and accurate information about the registration status of health practitioners is available to the people who need it, when they need it. Often, this is the people managing or working with health practitioners. PIE also helps manage organisational risk and reduce employer costs.

‘The purpose of health practitioner regulation is to protect the public. This service will make it easier for health care organisations to make sure the registration data they hold about health practitioners working in their facilities is accurate and up to date,’ AHPRA CEO Martin Fletcher said.

AHPRA partnered with Melbourne’s Epworth hospital to pilot the new PIE service. As part of their accreditation and reference checking process, Epworth now receives electronic notification within 24 hours if any Epworth doctor’s national registration is cancelled, suspended, or restricted in any way.

Epworth’s Group Manager of Medical Services Liz Morton, said the quality of Epworth’s accreditation-related data has been greatly improved by PIE’s electronic and automated solution.

‘We can now conduct registration checks in minutes rather than days. We have also significantly improved our risk management and the system supports a high standard of clinical/professional governance,’ Ms Morton said.

The Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM Victoria) is the most recent organisation to start using AHPRA’s PIE ‘Find’ service to automatically validate registered Victorian medical practitioners before they report a death.

BDM Victoria’s Director and Registrar Erin Keleher, said by simply entering their AHPRA number medical practitioners can now report a death more quickly and efficiently via the Medical Practitioner Online form.

‘Upon insertion of the medical practitioner's name and AHPRA number the registration will validate and the online form will open. This will allow the practitioner to proceed with entering the deceased person's data and completing the process by printing and signing the form,’ Ms Keleher said.

BDM Victoria register over 36,000 deaths per year.

For more information

• Practitioner information exchange brochure: Practitioner Information Exchange - December 2013 (196 KB,PDF), Word version (590 KB,DOCX)
• Media inquiries: (03) 8708 9200
• PIE enquiries: please lodge a web enquiry form
• BDM Victoria: www.bdm.vic.gov.au
• Visit the Epworth website.

Download a PDF of this Media release - AHPRA launches new data service - 20 December 2013 (126 KB,PDF)