Avant’s Medico-legal Advisory Service (MLAS) has identified a steady increase in requests for assistance from members which raise competitive conduct, consumer protection and fair-trading issues.
Most members have an appreciation of the purpose of the Trade Practices Act 1972 (TPA) and the role of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in ensuring fair and efficient competition within commercial markets and their role in consumer protection.
However, it may come as a surprise to some members to know that:
- the TPA has always applied to medical practitioners operating though an incorporated practice, and
- since 1996 competition provisions dealing with matters of price fixing, market sharing and collusive tendering have applied to medical practitioners working as sole practitioners or in partnerships through the operation of competition codes enacted in each state.
State and territory fair trading legislation which mirrors the consumer protection provisions of the TPA also ensures that non-incorporated medical practitioners are subject to these requirements governing professional dealings with patients.
Medical practitioners are considered to be both competitors and providers under the TPA, and are therefore subject to both:
- the prohibitions on anti-competitive conduct
- the rules governing consumer protection.
TPA breaches can lead to significant penalties including criminal penalties, fines, compensation and corrective advertising orders.
The ACCC has recently published a guide titled Professions and the Trade Practices Act which provides practical tips on how individual practitioners and professional organisations can minimise the risk of breaching the TPA. The guide can be accessed via the Publications section of the ACCC website .
For more information or specific advice members can call Avant’s MLAS on 1800 128 268.