The regulator has a shiny new five-year plan. It involves AI.
The health practitioner regulator has committed to developing new risk response tools, analysing the effectiveness of its regulatory processes and harnessing AI to “scan online environments”.
Released late on Tuesday afternoon, AHPRA’s new five-year plan outlines the high-level strategic direction it will (aim to) take through to 2031.
“Ambitious reform is needed to ensure Ahpra and the National Scheme can keep pace with increasing demand for health services and rapidly changing delivery models while continuing to protect public and practitioner safety,” the plan reads.
There are three strategic themes: effective harm prevention, a culturally safe health system for First Nations Australians and a sustainable health workforce.
Alongside those themes are six strategic attributes, including optimising data, empowering staff, focussing on user experience, embedding scheme stewardship, elevating community voices and working in partnership.
Specific commitments under the “effective harm prevention” banner were centred around intervening early when there was evidence of harm, using multiple data sources to understand risk and influence practitioner behaviour and preventing problematic behaviour rather than remediating it after the fact.
The intended outcome is that “peoples’ experiences of the health and regulatory systems are safe, free from preventable harm”.
It’s worth noting that, here, the regulator does not distinguish between patients and practitioners.
Arguably, both notifiers and practitioners subject to a notification are at risk of unintentional harm from an AHPRA investigation.
The regulator also hinted at online-only telehealth models being a particular focus of interest going forward.
“Rapidly evolving technologies facilitate and expedite new ways of delivering health services,” the plan said.
“Digital health options can provide significant benefits, offering faster, easier and greater access, but if used erroneously, enable dangerous practices and expose gaps in regulation.
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“Opportunities for financial gain can also give rise to concerning behaviours that, if left unchecked, can proliferate harm.”
There was little further detail on how AHPRA will use AI into the future, beyond a commitment to “harness artificial intelligence to scan online environments”.
While acknowledging that it cannot control demand for professional health services, AHPRA acknowledged in its plan that it does play an important role on the supply side.
“Contemporary accreditation services must balance quality and access to workforce,” it said.
“Education and training to ensure practitioners are competent and able to develop their scope of practice to meet healthcare needs is essential for public safety and workforce sustainability.”
As part of this work, AHPRA will carry out a “deep review” of accreditation models, “streamline and strengthen” registration and introduce a single health practitioner identifier which will follow an individual from student to retirement.
In a potential nod to pharmacy scope of practice reforms, AHPRA also said it would “support practitioners to develop their scope of practice and enable registration endorsements to meet service delivery needs”.
To ensure a culturally safe health system for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations, AHPRA said it would elevate First Nations voices to help address systemic racism, strengthen accreditation of cultural safety and implement Indigenous data sovereignty principles and practices.
