The chief executive of Optometry Australia, Ms Genevieve Quilty, said her organisation has provided CPD accreditation for many years and it was delighted to be continuing in that role, following a rigorous competitive tender process conducted by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.Ms Quilty said the accreditation program will be managed by Optometry Australia’s new business arm, Eye on CPD.She said that Optometry Australia applauded AHPRA’s decision to implent a syst of sustainable governance around the profession’s CPD. This contract will bring with it formal monitoring of approved providers of CPD services as well as a requirent to audit all CPD activities which we will do via an independent third party to eliminate any potential conflict of interest given our state divisions’ Approved Provider status, Ms Quilty said.Through Eye on CPD, Optometry Australia will also be required to process approved-provider applications to forward to the Optometry Board of Australia for decision as per the CPD Registration Standard and Guidelines. While we have managed CPD accreditation for many years, the exponential increase in the volume of CPD on offer, coupled with our increased governance responsibilities, means that we can no longer support a ‘zero-cost’ model. As a result, we will be introducing a small levy on CPD service providers,? Ms Quilty said. We will charge a modest fee of $150 per three-hour course or less and $750 per course exceeding three hours will be levied on all non-approved providers. A $50 fee will be charged for each time the course is repeated by the non-approved service provider. Those fees will also cover all auditing costs. Approved providers will pay an annual fee of $2,000 to assist with offsetting auditing and monitoring costs but will not be required to pay the course fees given those providers self-audit their CPD activities.Optometry Australia will continue to record CPD points for all its mbers whilst for the first time, opening up this service on a fee-to-manage basis to non-mbers.All regulatory arrangents for CPD rain unchanged as set out by the OBA.
ACO extends deadline to apply for paediatric eyecare course
The Australian College of Optometry (ACO) has extended the application deadline for its 2025 Advanced Certificate in Children’s Vision (ACCV)...