Fees Payable to Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa | Medical Council of New Zealand from 1 July 2021
Under sections 130–133 of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, the Medical Council of New Zealand (“Council”) gives notice that fees and levy (GST excluded), set out in the Fees Schedule below, are payable effective from 1 July 2021.
This notice comes into effect on 1 July 2021. From that date, the following notice is revoked:
| A | Practising Certificate (PC) or Interim PC including Disciplinary Levy | $ | |
| Annual PC fee | 773.60 | 2, 3, 5 | |
| Application to vary existing PC | 301.67 | ||
| PC Quarterly Fee (used only when bringing a doctor into their registration cycle) | 193.40 | 5 | |
| B | Disciplinary Levy – levy for 12 months | 201.90 | |
| C | Registration Fees | ||
| Application for registration in a provisional general/general scope of practice: | |||
| Provisional general registration (New Zealand/Australian/NZREX graduate) | 301.67 | ||
| Provisional general registration (Australian General Registrant) | 482.67 | ||
| Provisional general registration (competent authority) | 482.67 | ||
| Provisional general registration (comparable health system) | 1,508.35 | ||
| General registration (New Zealand/Australian graduate) | 482.67 | ||
| For registration in a provisional vocational / vocational scope of practice: | |||
| Application for vocational registration (for those registered in the General scope of practice, who have been awarded the prescribed qualification) | 241.34 | ||
| Application for vocational registration (for those who are not registered in the General scope of practice, who have been awarded the prescribed qualification) | 482.67 | ||
| Application for provisional vocational registration (for international medical graduates with overseas specialist qualifications) | 3,620.04 | ||
| Vocational practice assessment | 16,783.35 | 1, 3, 5 | |
| College advice fees for registration in a provisional vocational scope of practice*: | |||
| Assessment of documents (preliminary advice) | 1,650.00 | 1 | |
| Interview (final advice) | 3,900.00 | 1 | |
| Re-evaluation** | 1,200.00 | 1 | |
| Advice on supervisor/employment | 200.00 | 1 | |
| For registration in a special purpose scope of practice: | |||
| Special purpose postgraduate training | 965.34 | ||
| Special purpose locum tenens / teleradiology / research | 603.34 | ||
| Other registration-related fees: | |||
| Application to change existing scope or conditions | 301.67 | ||
| Restoration of registration | 301.67 | ||
| Annual retention fee (non-practising status)*** | 130.43 | ||
| D | Certificate Signed by the Registrar | ||
| Certificate of professional status, registered information, and any other document confirming registration status/standing or internship details | 181.00 | ||
| E | New Zealand Registration Examination (NZREX Clinical) | ||
| Application fee | 670.91 | 5 | |
| Examination fee | 3,870.66 | 1, 5 | |
| Review of decisions (recount) | 341.33 | ||
| Appeal of decisions (impairment or exam process) | 511.99 | ||
| Withdrawal, or transfer, prior to, or on, the cut-off date for the specified exam (six weeks prior to exam) | 341.33 | ||
| Withdrawal after the cut-off date for the specified exam (20 working days or more prior to exam) | 774.13 | ||
| F | Screening Programmes | ||
| Testing administrative charge (per test) | 137.66 | ||
| Charge per test for urine / hair / blood (recharged at cost) | at cost | 4 | |
| Cost of breathalyser unit / re-calibration of breathalyser unit (recharged at cost) | at cost | 4 | |
| G | Sexual Misconduct Assessment | ||
| Administration charge only | 1,798.03 | 1, 4 | |
| H | Contribution to Educational Supervision Costs | ||
| Administration charge only | 2,400.85 | 1, 4 | |
| I | Educational – Pre-Vocational | ||
| Accreditation of training provider | 31,725.35 | 5 | |
| J | Educational – Vocational | ||
| Accreditation New Zealand-only training providers: | |||
| – Training provider with 300 or more paying members | 22,154.00 | 5 | |
| – Training provider with fewer than 300 paying members | 17,119.00 | 5 | |
| Accreditation of training providers recertification programme only | 10,070.00 | 5 | |
| K | Recognition of vocational scope of practice / Assessment of a recertification programme | ||
| Vocational education and advisory body application for recognition of new vocational scope of practice | 7,258.08 | 5 | |
| Application for assessment of an individual recertification programme for a vocational scope of practice | 3,024.00 | 5 | |
| L | Register | ||
| Register for 12 months downloaded from the Council’s website | 309.47 | ||
| Request for one copy of the Register | 154.73 | ||
| Register data requests (Fee is per hour but may be adjusted depending on the nature of the query. Any disbursements will be recovered at cost) | 154.73 |
Dated at Wellington this 17th day of May 2021.
DAVID DUNBAR, Registrar, Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa | Medical Council of New Zealand.
On 5 March 2021, Council published a consultation document on its website, outlining the reasons for proposed changes to existing fees and disciplinary levy and sought feedback on the proposals. The consultation document was also sent to all registered doctors, the Ministry of Health, district health boards and other organisations with an interest. Council’s proposal followed an extensive review of fees, using the activity-based costing methodology first adopted by Council for fee setting in 2015. Council considered the findings of the activity-based costing review to be important, in ensuring Council’s fee structure is fair and equitable by limiting any cross subsidisation through the practising certificate fee.
Thirty-one responses were received and were considered by Council on 13 April 2021. Council resolved to approve the fees outlined in this Notice with an effective date of 1 July 2021. Council was pleased that an increase to the practising certificate fee and disciplinary levy was able to be limited to an inflation adjustment of 0.7%.
In conjunction with the activity-based costing review, Council sought feedback from the medical colleges on their costs. These fees had not been reconsidered since they were first introduced in September 2011, except for annual inflationary adjustments.
Medical college advice fees are set by Council, paid by the international medical graduate (IMG) applicant seeking registration in a provisional vocational scope of practice (or by their prospective employer, on their behalf) and passed through to the medical college in full on receipt of advice and an invoice.
Typically, only the preliminary advice and interview fees, are incurred in addition to two other Council fees related to this vocational registration pathway for IMGs, specifically the application for provisional vocational registration and the vocational practice assessment. However, we note that not every applicant will pay each fee. For example, only a small number of doctors will need to undergo a vocational practice assessment.
In approving the medical college advice fees Council agreed that the situation is monitored to ensure the fees do not provide a barrier to IMG applicants.
If an applicant is not satisfied with the final decision of Council regarding their application for vocational registration, they may request a re-evaluation of their application. This thorough re-evaluation can be made available at a lower cost than the initial evaluation.
A new annual retention fee of $130.43 (excluding GST) is included in this Notice, to be charged to non-practising doctors who choose to remain on the medical register. This reflects the costs of maintaining doctors on the register, who do retain the right to vote in Council elections, and to receive Council communications and access to other Council services.
Most of Council’s existing fees have been adjusted based on the findings of the activity-based costing review. Those not re-calculated were inflation-adjusted by 0.7% on the basis they were recently introduced by Council or had been recently re-costed and therefore the existing fee is representative of the activity-based cost. To identify these fees please refer to the key to annotation below.
1. All fees are non-refundable unless denoted.
2. Reduced fee payable for first-time applicants applying for registration within a provisional or special purpose scope of practice where the appointment is for six months or less. For appointments longer than six months, the PC fee will be charged to bring medical practitioners on to their PC cycle.
3. Fee includes a disciplinary levy of $201.90.
4. Services provided by external providers are on-charged in full by Council. A one-off administration fee is charged upfront to cover the cost of Council staff time and overheads.
5. Fee adjusted by inflation only.