The Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists have altered their Standards for Accreditation of Nuclear Medicine Practices after discussions with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The ACCC was approached by the Townsville Hospital after two doctors providing nuclear medical services remotely to the hospital were denied re credentialling under the standards. The standards, as originally drafted, divided nuclear medicine practices into three categories, of which two were based on the distance to the nearest fully staffed nuclear medicine practice. They defined a provincial practice as one at least 100 kilometres away from a fully staffed nuclear medicine practice. A remote practice was one more than 200 kilometres away from a fully staffed nuclear medicine practice.
It was alleged that, as another fully staffed nuclear medicine practice existed within 200 kilometres of the Townsville Hospital, the doctors could not provide nuclear medicine services remotely to the Townsville Hospital and their application for re-credentialling was denied. Further it was alleged that the way the standards were to be applied, meant that the doctors' established and fully supervised practice in Adelaide was also at risk of losing its credentialled status.
The ACCC was concerned that the standards and their application to the doctors may contravene section 45(2) of the Trade Practices Act 1974. In particular, the ACCC had concerns that the standards may create artificial boundaries that would protect service providers in particular geographical locations.
After raising this with RACP and RANZCR, they agreed to review the standards and in particular remove any unintended anticompetitive effects contained in the standards. Following this review the colleges advised the ACCC that the credentialling criteria for nuclear medicine specialists under the standards would now refer solely to the credentials of the nuclear medicine specialist without reference to the mode of conduct, be it remote or otherwise, of a nuclear medicine practice.
Further, the Townsville Hospital doctors would retain their credentialled status and thus would continue to provide services to the Townsville Hospital, as well as at their Adelaide practice.
Mr Ken Whelan, the District Manager of the Townsville Health Service District, said that he welcomes the continuation of services currently provided by the doctors to the Townsville Hospital.
"The current service is of great benefit to the North Queensland community," Mr Whelan said. "The hospital is now able to retain the doctor's services, which has shown an increase in the number of studies undertaken to 2,800 per annum, while the cost of acquiring these services is now significantly less."
ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, welcomed the colleges' cooperation in taking proactive steps to address the concerns raised in regards to this matter
"Of particular importance is the continuation of a quality medical service to rural and regional areas of Australia, especially in an area of medicine where the general public may find it difficult to access highly qualified medical practitioners on a day-to-day basis.
"This serves as a timely reminder that the Act applies to all professional organisations, including those operating in the health sector. In particular, where professional organisations have input into the formulation and implementation of standards, they should ensure that competition within the relevant market is not restricted by the standard's application."