Renewal FAQ for medical practitioners

You are due to renew your general and/or specialist registration or non-practising registration with the Medical Board of Australia annually by 30 September. 

Look for an email from Ahpra announcing that online renewal is open. You will get email reminders several times during the renewal period, so use our online services to check that Ahpra has your current contact details. Check the national register to confirm your registration details.

No, you do not need a CPD home in 2023. When you renew in 2023, you need to declare you have met the CPD registration standard in the previous registration period, but this does not include doing your CPD through a CPD home.

Specialist registrants must meet the CPD requirements of their specialist college, either by participating in the college program, by doing self-directed CPD which meets the college requirements or by joining an accredited CPD home. General and limited registrants must complete 50 hours of CPD and any other requirements specified in the CPD registration standard. Read more about what you have had to do in 2023.

All doctors will need a CPD home by 1 January 2024, and many of you will be able to do your CPD through a specialist college or other CPD home in 2024.

As a medical practitioner in Australia, you must meet Medical Board registration standards when renewing your registration. These registration standards include criminal history, professional indemnity insurance (PII), recency of practice and continuing professional development (CPD). Before making any declarations, you must read the requirements for renewal of registration carefully. If you hold more than one specialty registration, you must ensure that you meet the CPD requirements for each when you apply to renew registration.

No. If you perform exposure-prone procedures, you will be asked whether you have complied with the Communicable Diseases Network Australia (CDNA) guidelines: Australian national guidelines for the management of healthcare workers living with blood borne viruses and healthcare workers who perform exposure prone procedures at risk of exposure to blood borne viruses.

In summary, the CDNA Guidelines require healthcare workers who perform exposure prone procedures to take reasonable steps to know their blood-borne virus (BBV) status and to be tested for BBVs at least once every three years. Healthcare workers who are living with a blood-borne virus and who perform exposure-prone procedures have additional requirements.

We do not need to know your test results. Only a yes or no declaration about your compliance with the CDNA guidelines.

For more information, see the Board’s Guidelines: Registered health practitioners and students in relation to blood-borne viruses and the CDNA Guidelines.

You will need to decide what type of registration best suits your circumstances.

However, most medical practitioners with specialist registration have both general and specialist registration because:

• there is no extra cost - you pay one annual renewal registration fee to maintain both general and specialist registration
• the recency of practice requirements are the same - regardless of your type of registration you must have worked at least the minimum number of hours required by the registration standard, in your scope of practice
• there are no additional CPD requirements if you hold general registration in addition to specialist registration.
• if you choose to surrender your general registration, you will be restricted to practice within the scope of your specialty.

When renewing your registration, you will be asked which registrations you wish to renew or if you would like to opt out of any of your registrations. You may choose to maintain both your general and specialist registration or opt out of any you no longer wish to hold.

You will need to decide what type of registration best suits your circumstances. If you are ceasing all medical practice, you may want to consider not renewing general and specialist registration or you can apply for non-practising registration.

Regardless of your types of registration (excludes non-practising registration) you must have worked at least the minimum number of hours required by the recency of practice registration standard, in your scope of practice.

However, if you are no longer practising in one or more specialties and you don’t want to, or can’t, do the CPD relevant to each specialty, you can let one or both of your specialist registrations lapse, and retain only your general registration. From 2024, if you have only general registration, you must have a CPD home, develop a plan for what CPD you will do and complete 50 hours CPD in your scope of practice that includes different types of CPD. Read more about the 2024 CPD requirements.

In addition, maintaining only general registration means:

• you cannot use the protected specialist title associated with the specialist registration you surrendered
• you can continue to use the protected title ‘medical practitioner’
• the annual registration fee to renew only general registration is the same as the fee to renew both general and specialist registration
• you cannot access Medicare specialist level rebates for your patients.

When renewing your registration, you will be asked which registrations you wish to renew or if you would like to opt out of any of your registrations.

You may choose to maintain both your general or specialist registration or opt out of any you no longer wish to hold.

When you renew your registration, you are asked if you have previously disclosed to Ahpra all known complaints made about you to:

• a registration authority, or 
• another entity having functions relating to professional services provided by health practitioners or the regulation of health practitioners (in Australia or elsewhere).

You do not need to tell us about any complaints made about you to: 

• Ahpra 
• a health complaints entity in Australia
• the Medical Council or the Health Care Complaints Commissioner in New South Wales
• the Office of the Health Ombudsman in Queensland.

You need to tell us about any other complaints, including any made to an entity with responsibility for regulating medicines, drugs or poison in a state or territory of Australia, or an overseas regulatory body.

If you:

• do not need to tell us or do not know of any complaints made about you, please answer N/A 
• have already told us about all known complaints, please answer yes
• have not yet told us about all known complaints, please answer no and give us details in the text box provided.

See the fees schedule for costs of annual renewal and registration. There is an annual renewal fee for 12 months of registration. The fees are set at a level that enables the Medical Board to effectively regulate medical practitioners in Australia and meet its legal responsibilities under the National Law. If you submit your application to renew in the one-month late period after 30 September, you will be charged a late payment fee.

Yes, when renewing online you can also participate in a health workforce survey. Your survey responses will help inform workforce planning and provide a comprehensive profile of Australia’s current medical practitioner workforce.

Please check that your details on the national register are correct. Use the secure online services to make sure Ahpra has your current contact information, including email and mobile, to receive renewal reminders.