CEO ’ s Report
Charles Wurf | ATMS CEO
The new financial year is now in full swing , and the 2022-2023 year is proving to be just as challenging as recent years . Like many , ATMS continues to grapple with what will be the lived realities as we continue to chart a course for a post- COVID world . It is timely that we focus on post-viral clinical outcomes in this issue of the ATMS Journal . Recent years have seen a great effort to simply survive and endure in practice , and now key parts of our organisational effort will return to supporting members in practice .
To continue this theme of the Journal I want to share the ATMS refocus on our Continuing Professional Education program .
Recent years have seen significant disruption to all forms of ongoing education , with many cancellations and postponements of in person events and a wholesale move to online forms of learning . Many of these changes come with significant advantages in accessibility and cost efficiency and I am sure they will endure .
The ATMS forward program for the rest of 2022 now seems more stable than at any time in the last 3 years and we are at the advanced stages of preparing our 2023 calendar . Our program has been renewed with a balanced mix of in-person learning and online options , as we have now a proven record of success for both . Across the board we are now seeing increasing evidence of the more stable return of all forms of ongoing education , not just that provided by ATMS .
We look forward to encouraging members to a renewed emphasis on ongoing professional education , with a continuing focus on enhanced clinical education . The role of ATMS in supporting members in practice ensures that we will also continue to develop and provide opportunities for business and marketing skills as well .
With the return to more stable programs for ongoing education , I can also share with members that all organisations will return to the more formal requirements for ensuring compliance with ongoing professional education requirements .
ATMS has just been notified of the resumption of traditional audits by health funds of member CPE compliance . It is fair to observe that recent years have seen a realistic understanding of the COVID situation by all parties to CPE compliance , and there has been sound discretion exercised for those deeply affected by an inability to practice due to the exceptional circumstances created by COVID . I do expect to now revert to pre COVID practices , and ATMS has been notified to expect formal health fund audits from September 2022 . We will work with members selected for those dedicated health fund audits when the time comes . Increasingly , and with now a more limited number of treatments still receiving health fund rebates , the health funds are expecting to see CPE relevant to the treatment recognised by the fund .
The ATMS CPE audit has now also been released and this year ’ s audit finalised our planned changes to how we conduct our audit . The ATMS CPE audit must meet its formal compliance task to substantiate with evidence the completion of the necessary 20 CPE points . That remains the primary purpose of the audit for the sample group that is selected each year . Full compliance remains a foundational pillar of ATMS membership , and the sample is conducted with absolute rigour .
Starting from this year the sample group will receive notification in August / September and must substantiate all requirements of the full audit process by 30 June . The sample group will receive full details of the ATMS CPE policy and all necessary support tools to make participation in the audit a seamless experience . The audit group is engaged in a formal substantiation of what is an ATMS fundamental : a commitment to practise natural medicine involves a lifelong commitment to continually updating knowledge and practice skills .
We look forward to working with the selected sample group of ATMS members in the successful completion of this year ’ s CPE audit .
Contact us for support Member renewals for all ATMS Accredited Members and Associate Members were distributed in May 2022 for the year 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023 . Member renewals are due on 1 July 2022 , with extended payment terms available through to September .
For any aspect of ATMS membership and health fund administration , the ATMS team is available to contact on 1800 456 855 or info @ atms . com . au . Documents supporting membership and CPE may also be submitted online through the membership portal on www . atms . com . au .
The ATMS member portal has been upgraded to allow easy upload of the key membership documentation : annual Professional Indemnity renewals , renewed first aid certificates and clear and concise member entry for all CPE activities . The CPE portal allows line by line user entry of all member CPE activities with a visual tally of total CPE points . Only for those members selected in the ATMS CPE audit , the online portal is also available to provide evidence of each CPE activity to substantiate audit compliance .
We look forward to working with and supporting members throughout the 2022- 2023 membership year .
Charles Wurf CEO
JATMS | Spring 2022 | 127