Specialists in Public Hospitals
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Specialists Continuing Medical Education financial support
Specialists employed in Victorian public hospitals have access to reimbursement from their employer for Continuing Medical Education expenses under certain conditions.
The CME Agreement is part of the 2009 Medical Remuneration Heads of Agreement between AMA, ASMOF, the Victorian Hospitals Industrial Association, and DHS.
Continuing Medical Education Reimbursement Specialists
(a) The entitlement for Full-Time Specialists is for reimbursement of approved costs up to a value of $20,650 in the 2008/9 financial year; $21,321 in the 2009/10 financial year; $22,014 in the 2010/11 financial year; and $22,730 in the 2011/12 financial year and thereafter, inclusive of the support at (b) below and subject to (e) below.
(b) Where support was provided to Specialists prior to 1 July 2006 (including from private practice, special purpose or similar funds), those arrangements will be unchanged by this Clause. This includes support that in the absence of this Clause would have normally been available to new employees of a health service.
(c) The entitlement to funding support for Specialists employed on a salaried Fractional basis is pro-rata, based on the Specialist’s base Fractional appointment (up to $2,065 in the 2008/9 financial year; $2,132 in the 2009/10 financial year; $2,201 in the 2010/11 financial year; and $2,273 in the 2011/12 financial year and thereafter, for each 0.1 fraction / 3.5 hours), provided that where a Specialist holds more than one Fractional appointment with an employer listed in Schedules 1-5 of the Health Services Act 1988, the total benefit available to the Specialist each year will not exceed the benefit available to a single Full-Time Specialist.
(d) Subject to sub-clauses (2) and (3) below, funds will be paid to the Specialist as a reimbursement of costs reasonably and necessarily incurred for Continuing Medical Education activities or purposes directly relevant to the Specialist’s employment with the employer.
(e) The funding provided for in this Clause is a “benchmark” entitlement. A Chief Medical Officer/delegate may approve higher levels of support dependent on the monies available in the appropriate fund.
(a) Pursuant to sub-clause (4) a Specialist is entitled to seek reimbursement for the following Continuing Medical Education related costs:
(i) costs relating to professional conferences and workshops, including registration fees, and reasonable travel, accommodation and per diem expenses; and/or
(ii) costs associated with enrolment in relevant short courses, workshops or post-graduate courses recognised by the Specialty College for purposes of accruing CME / CPD / MOPS points; and/or
(iii) other reasonable costs such as books, CDs, portable technological aids (not including items of a capital nature (eg, ultra-sound imaging devices), mobile telephones or iPods and like audio devices) and subscriptions where such resources are not otherwise provided by, or available from, the employer.
(a) Air travel associated with continuing medical education activities will be reimbursed at the rate of business class for journeys of 3 hours or more, and economy class for journeys of less than 3 hours duration. Claims for private car use for travel associated with continuing medical education activities will be reimbursed at the relevant rate per business kilometre published by the Australian Tax Office from time to time.
(b) Accommodation, meal and incidental expenses:
(A) Reimbursement of reasonable and necessarily incurred accommodation, meal and incidental expenses will be paid subject to the following:
(i) Accommodation may be at the hosting hotel or elsewhere as is reasonable for the conference/seminar attended;
(ii) Meal and other incidental expense amounts will be in accordance with the amounts set out in the relevant Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Tax Determination dealing with reasonable allowance amounts (currently Tax Determination 2008/18 which can be found on the ATO website at http://www.ato.gov.au/).
The ATO daily allowance rates vary according to salary. The rates used should be based on the full-time equivalent salary applicable to the position occupied by the Specialist, i.e. part-time Specialists should be paid the rate relevant to a full-time salary. For the purpose of this clause, “salary” shall mean the Specialist’s base salary. The salary used for this purpose is not reduced by any salary sacrifice arrangement.
(B) Where the Continuing Medical Education activity does not involve travel (e.g. post-graduate study, local conferences), reasonable and necessary expenses actually incurred should be paid.
(a) Reimbursement may be claimed by a Specialist using a common simplified claim form provided by the employer;
(b) Claims are to be submitted to the Chief Medical Officer/delegate for approval, through the Specialist’s Unit Head, and must be accompanied by original receipts and any other necessary supporting documentation, including for FBT purposes (eg travel diary);
(c) Claims are to be submitted within 3 months of expenditure being incurred and where practicable within the financial year to which they relate.
(d) The employer will process reimbursements in an expeditious manner not later than 30 days after submission of a fully compliant claim.
5 A Specialist will not be entitled to payout of any unused entitlement under this Clause upon retirement, resignation, redundancy or dismissal.
6 The reimbursement of up to the per annum amounts described in sub-clause (1) is inclusive of any applicable Fringe Benefits Tax.
7 There will be no transfer of any unexpended entitlement to funded support between health services. However, access to some funded support from the new employer should not be unreasonably withheld, provided that the total value of support provided by the relevant health services does not exceed the per annum amounts described in sub-clause (1) in any one financial year.
8 Any dispute as to the reasonableness and/or eligibility of a claim for CME re-imbursement under this clause will be handled as follows:
(a) the employer will refer the claim back to the doctor seeking clarification of the items in question. This clarification request shall be in writing and the response from the doctor shall be in writing;
(b) if the matter remains unresolved, either party may refer the matter to an independent person or body for determination.
(c) the determination of the independent person or body shall be final.
9 Any dispute in relation to the application of this clause may be dealt with through the Dispute Resolution Procedure.
