AMA advocacy leads to win in Senate for sensible reporting measures
A push this week by the Australian Greens to add overly burdensome reporting obligations has been voted down in the Senate following efforts by the AMA.
Parliament is considering the Therapeutic Goods Amendment (2022 Measures No. 1) Bill 2022, which among other things would make it mandatory for hospitals to report adverse events involving medical devices.
The AMA had previously expressed support for reforms to product vigilance systems in a 2021 submission to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, including mandatory reporting by healthcare facilities.
During the week, the Australian Greens tried to amend the above Bill to extend this mandatory reporting obligation to all medical practitioners. While the AMA encourages voluntary reporting by medical practitioners, our earlier submission rejected the approach proposed by the Greens due to the additional compliance burden for doctors and the lack of additional patient benefit if hospitals were already required to make these reports.
The President, Vice President and Secretariat worked over a number of days to raise concerns over the amendments put forward by the Greens and this ultimately saw the Government and Opposition combine to vote down the amendment in the Senate. Our advocacy has ensured that sensible changes to reporting arrangements are now likely to go ahead, without doctors facing a new and unnecessary compliance burden.