Insurance for Midwives:

There are several choices for midwives in relation to insurance. If you work in a hospital you will be covered by the hospital vicarious liability, you will however need to find out what that insurance covers:

To practice as a private practice or independent midwife you will need some form of insurance in order to be registered with the Nurses and Midwives Board of Australia. Currently these are your choices:

Option 1
The Government Insurance:
MIGA (Medical Insurance Group of Australia) has won the contract to offer midwives professional indemnity insurance, with support by the Commonwealth under the Midwife Professional Indemnity (Commonwealth Contribution) Scheme Act 2010 and the Midwife Professional Indemnity (Run-off Cover Support Payment) Act 2010. See blog 14 June
MIGA have a News Flash in relation to collaborative arrangements click here to see more....
Further information about Collaborative requirements appears below.

I am interested in securing formal Collaborative Arrangements, but I don't think I can obtain an obstetrician's or a hospital's agreement to collaborate with me before 1 July. Can I still be covered by the MIGA insurance?
Yes. If you are unable to obtain a Collaborative Arrangement for a particular woman, you will still be covered if you communicate a maternity care plan for that woman to a public hospital that provides obstetric services.

Option 2
Vero insurance policy for antenatal and postnatal care only - the agents for this will be Mediprotect http://www.mediprotect.com.au/
The policy will cover activities such as, the provision care and education services, but will exclude birthing. Midwives will be able to choose between two categories for their activities.
The insurance will cost between $1800 - $3010.00 ( cover will be from $1,000,000 - $5,000,000
Information about the Vero policy can be obtained from the Mediprotect website or by phoning Mediprotect on 07 3426 0440.

To be eligible for this cover, practitioners need only be registered as a ‘practising midwife’ with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia.

Option 3
The ANF is contemplating an insurance option this is still to be confirmed, the best thing to do is to check with your local office....

Watch this space for more information......
Remember there is no insurance cover for Homebirth;

Cheers Pauline

ref for cartoon: www.getmilked.com/.../ThankYouInsuranceMan.html

What does collaboration look like with MIGA

The Hon Nicola Roxon MP - Minister for Health and Ageing has announced that MIGA has been awarded the contract to be the sole provider under a new Government supported Scheme to provide Professional Indemnity Insurance to privately practising midwives MIGA - the Medical Insurance Group A full time equivalent will cost you $7500.00 per year. (The Australian College of Midwives will also have a competitive insurance so watch this space)

This insurance company has outlined what collaboration will look like: here are the exerts from the document on collaboration to read the whole document click this link;

A Collaborative Arrangement must provide for:
- consultation between you and an Obstetric Specified Medical Practitioner;
- referral of a patient to a Specified Medical Practitioner; and
- transfer of a patent's care to an Obstetric Specified Medical Practitioner.

A Collaborative Arrangement means one of the following types of arrangements:
- a patient is referred in writing to you for Midwifery Services by a Specified Medical Practitioner;

or
- an arrangement in writing between you and one or more Specified Medical
Practitioners which provides for consultation between you and the Medical
Practitioner(s), referral of patients to the Medical Practitioner(s), transfer of a
patient's care to the Medical Practitioner(s) and which is signed by you and the
Medical Practitioner(s);
or
- you have met each of the following requirements for each patient:

- you have recorded the name of the Specified Medical Practitioner who is (or will
be) collaborating with you in your written records;

- you have told the patient that you will be collaborating with a Specified Medical
Practitioner and recorded this in your written records;

- you have an acknowledgement by the named Medical Practitioner that they will
be collaborating with you in the patient's care and you have recorded this in
Your written records (this acknowledgement may apply to more than one
patient);

- you have recorded in your written records plans for the circumstances in which
you will consult with an Obstetric Specified Medical Practitioner; refer the
patient to a Specified Medical Practitioner; transfer the patient's care to an
Obstetric Specified Medical Practitioner;

- you have recorded any consultation or other communication between you and
an Obstetric Specified Medical Practitioner about the patient's care in your
written records;

- you have recorded any referral of the patient by you to a Specified Medical
Practitioner in Your written records;
- you have recorded any transfer by you of the patient's care to an Obstetric
Specified Medical Practitioner in your written records;

- when you give a copy of the hospital booking letter (however described) for the
patient to a named Medical Practitioner, you have recorded the acknowledgement that the named Medical Practitioner has received a copy of the hospital booking letter in your written records;

- when you give a copy of the patient's maternity care plan prepared by you to a
named Medical Practitioner, You have recorded in your written records the
acknowledgement that the named Medical Practitioner has received the copy of
the maternity care plan;

- if you request diagnostic imaging or pathology services for the patient, you have
recorded when you give the results of those services to a named Medical
Practitioner in your written records; and

- you have given a discharge summary (however described) at the end of your
care for a patient to the named Medical Practitioner and the patient's usual
general practitioner and recorded this in Your written records.

I will leave you to ponder on this and comment.....

cheers Pauline

Will you be an Eligible midwife?

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia has submitted to the Ministerial Council for approval: the Registration Standard for Eligible Midwife and Registration for Endorsement for Scheduled Medicines for Eligible Midwives.

What does this mean for the average midwife in Australia?
Requirements
To be entitled to be identified as an eligible midwife, a midwife must be able to demonstrate, at a minimum, all the following:

Current general registration as a midwife in Australia with no restrictions on practice;

Midwifery experience that constitutes the equivalent of 3 years full time post initial registration as a midwife;

Current competence to provide pregnancy, labour, birth and post natal care to women and their infants;

Successful completion of an approved professional practice review program for midwives working across the continuum of midwifery care;

20 additional hours per year of continuing professional development relating to the continuum of midwifery care;

Formal undertaking to complete within 18 months of recognition as an eligible midwife; or the successful completion of:

an accredited and approved program of study determined by the Board to develop midwives’ knowledge and skills in prescribing, or

a program that is substantially equivalent to such an approved program of study, as determined by the Board.

My understanding of the above is that you can be deemed an eligible midwife and give the undertaking that you will complete within 18 months further study for prescribing and diagnostics.

Now we have to wait for the release of the courses that we are to do...those from WA who have already completed the Eligible Midwife program which was four units...should get some RPL (recognition for prior learning).....
Until these units are established it seems that midwives are required yet again to jump through hoops to give continuity of care.....

What does this mean: you will have to have three years experience across the continuum of midwifery before you can become an eligible midwife..... complete your Midwifery Practice Review and have an undertaking do further study within 18 months..... and you need to be insured.....indemnity insurance:

Watch this space!

Cheers Pauline

Great You Tube video.... watch this.....

"Madre De Muchos" - "Mother Of Many", by Emma Lazenby
great view...let me know what you think

Cheers Pauline

Free Study Session & Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Points

Are you ready for National Registration?
Free Session (2hrs)
Wednesday 23rd June 2010
Curtin University Staff Common Room 405:435

Program

18:15 Registration & Coffee

18:30 - 19:10 National Registration: Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009
– what this means to you as a midwife: Who is AHPRA? Come and find out!

19:10 – 1930 Supper
19:30 – 20:15 Workshop – MidPLUS; Portfolio; CPD; Midwifery Practice Review (MPR)
20:15 – 20:30 Close & feed back

Where: Curtin University: Bentley: Building 405: (School of Nursing & Midwifery)
Staff Common Room 435. Lots of free parking available car park number 24.

Please join us for a free session
Kindly sponsored by ACM Executive WA Branch
RSVP: email: acmwabranch@gmail.com

Please RSVP for catering purposes: Limited numbers first 60 places, confirmation will be via email.