About the Specialist Pathway

The Specialist Pathway leads to Specialist registration in the specialty of general practice with the Medical Board of Australia and Fellowship of ACRRM (FACRRM). FACRRMs have access to specialist rates of remuneration under Medicare, which is the Australian national health insurance scheme.

Doctors who have ACRRM-recognised overseas specialist qualifications in general practice or family medicine, may apply for assessment by ACRRM on the Specialist Pathway. This includes Canadian or New Zealand GP specialists under Ad eundem gradum arrangements.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible to apply for assessment on the Specialist Pathway, applicants must hold a specialist qualification on ACRRM's Codified List.

Assessment Criteria

ACRRM’s specialist pathway assesses if the training and experience of an SIMG is comparable to that of a Fellow of ACRRM. A Fellow of ACRRM (FACRRM) is a medical specialist who has been assessed as meeting the requisite standards for providing high-quality rural generalist medical practice.

This involves being able to:

• provide and adapt expert primary, secondary, emergency and specialised medical care to community needs
• provide safe, effective medical care while working in geographic and professional isolation
• work in partnership with Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander peoples and other culturally diverse groups and
• apply a population approach to community needs.

SIMG’s comparability is assessed against the competencies in the eight domains of rural and remote practice as described in the Rural Generalist Curriculum

1. Provide expert medical care in all rural contexts
2. Provide primary care
3. Provide secondary medical care
4. Respond to medical emergencies
5. Apply a population health approach
6. Work with Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and other culturally diverse communities to improve health and wellbeing
7. Practise medicine within an ethical, intellectual and professional framework
8. Provide safe medical care while working in geographic and professional isolation

SIMGs are deemed non comparable to a FACRRM if they cannot demonstrate:

• achieving their qualification through completion of a supervised training program
• partial or substantial comparability in each of the eight domains

• at least three years providing clinical care away from ready access to specialist medical, diagnostic and allied health services, since achieving their specialist qualification
• extended practice relevant to community needs
• ongoing professional development that is comparable to Medical Board of Australia requirements.

SIMGs may also be deemed non-comparable based on the assessment of all the Rural Generalist competencies.

Doctors on the ACRRM Specialist Pathway must work in a rural health service (MM4-7 location) approved by the College to enable of rural generalist competencies to be assessed.

Find out more about the Specialist pathway in the Specialist Pathway Guide.

Fees

Legend: * Non-refundable, ^ GST free. Fees subject to change/annual fee.