Hospital non-specialists

A hospital non-specialist is a doctor without postgraduate qualifications, who receives a government salary for the delivery of non-specialist healthcare services in a public hospital to public (Medicare) patients.

While specialists, GPs and other doctors may also receive a salary under the public healthcare system, they are often subject to different employment conditions. Some of these doctors may also have a right to private practice within the public hospital system. This is never the case for a hospital non-specialist.

The kind of public hospital positions that would be available to an overseas trained doctor (OTD) include:

• Internships (typically the one year of supervised training required by the Medical Registration Boards to achieve full medical registration);


• Resident medical officers/Hospital medical officers (RMOs/HMOs, generally doctors in their 2nd or 3rd year of prevocational training);


• Registrars (specialists-in-training); or


• Postgraduate trainee positions (occupational trainees).

Working in the public hospital system can provide an OTD with the opportunity to work in Australia while fulfilling any required further training or bridging courses to help pass the Australian Medical Council exams; to complete the 12 months of supervised clinical practice required as part of the Australian medical registration process; or even just provide training opportunities in various specialties.

Medicare

Medicare is Australia’s public healthcare system. Working in a public hospital as a hospital non-specialist means that a doctor does not usually need a Medicare Provider Number to provide Medicare billing services to patients. Since OTDs face restrictions on the locations in which they can work if they wish to bill Medicare services, the public hospital system offers excellent employment opportunities for OTDs.

Doctors will still need to apply for a Medicare provider number for the purposes of making referrals to specialist services, requesting pathology or diagnostic imaging services, and to prescribe medications, but these activities are not affected by Medicare provider number restrictions.