Update on revised Professional Indemnity Insurance arrangements registration standard

17 Mar 2016

A revised registration standard for Professional indemnity insurance (PII) arrangements has been published by the Osteopathy Board of Australia since December 2015.

The revised standard will come into effect on 1 July 2016 and will replace the standard that is currently in place. This standard will apply to all registered osteopaths except those with non-practising registration. Practitioners will need to meet the obligations of the revised standard either

• by the next time they renew their PII arrangements policy after 1 July 2016, or  
• by their next renewal of registration after 1 October 2016, whichever is sooner. 

As the Board has advised in previous news items, the key change in the revised PII arrangements registration standard is that the minimum amount of cover specified in the current standard ($20 million) has been removed from the standard. The revised standard aims to take a more contemporary and flexible approach, and requires registrants who are taking out their own insurance to do an objective self-assessment, and make full disclosure to their indemnity provider, to ensure they have adequate and appropriate professional indemnity insurance arrangements in place to cover their practice. Further changes have been made to improve the clarity and workability of the standard, and understanding of the requirements and obligations of registrants. There have been some minor changes to the requirements relating to run-off and retroactive cover to avoid duplication and provide more clarity. 

An insurer providing PII to osteopaths must generally be registered with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) or be a Lloyd’s underwriter (APRA’s website contains a list of registered general insurers).

National Boards have published more information about the revised PII arrangements registration standard which explains the requirements and what is expected of practitioners, in addition to some common FAQ.

The revised standard was approved by the Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council on 27 August 2015 and was reviewed as part of a scheduled review of standards. A public consultation was held as part of the review, and the submissions to public consultation are published on the Board’s website.

More information about the revised PII arrangements standard can be found on the Professional indemnity insurance arrangements page of the AHPRA website, including:

• Ministers' approval letter
• a brief consultation report that outlines the public consultation, rationale for any changes and proposed way forward (including areas where further work is planned)
• FAQs, and
• a fact sheet.