National Registration of Chinese Medicine Practitioners

The National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM) welcomes the commitment by Australian Governments to a nationally consistent and co-ordinated approach to the regulation of health professionals, and the opportunity to contribute to the approach to partially regulated professions in the scheme. National regulation, through registration and accreditation is designed to ensure consistent health standards across the health jurisdictions, improve system efficiencies and reduce administrative burden and costs. The issue of regulation, through registration or accreditation programs has been subject to considerable debate across the broad field of interventions and practitioners that make up the complementary medicine sector, and requires further consideration. However, as the Health Ministers are looking into partially regulated professions only at this point this submission focuses on the approach to Chinese medicine practitioners. NICM was established with Commonwealth and State funding in June 2007 and is hosted by the University of Western Sydney. The Institute provides leadership and support for strategically directed research into complementary medicine and translation of evidence into clinical practice and relevant policy to benefit the health of all Australians. Its objectives include facilitating appropriate integration of complementary medicine within the Australian health system.