title: Mandatory reports of concerns about the health, performance and conduct of health practitioners.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the frequency and characteristics of mandatory reports about the health, competence and conduct of registered health practitioners in Australia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective review and multivariate analysis of allegations of "notifiable conduct" involving health practitioners received by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) between 1 November 2011 and 31 December 2012.
  
  
  METHODS
  Statutory grounds for reports, types of behaviour reported, and incidence of notifications by profession, sex, age, jurisdiction and geographic area.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 819 mandatory notifications made during the study period, 501 (62%) related to perceived departures from accepted professional standards, mostly standards of clinical care. Nurses and doctors dominated notifications: 89% (727/819) involved a doctor or nurse in the role of notifier and/or respondent. Health professionals other than the respondents' treating practitioners made 46% of notifications (335/731), and the profession of the notifier and respondent was the same in 80% of cases (557/697). Employers made 46% of notifications (333/731). Psychologists had the highest rate of notifications, followed by medical practitioners, and then nurses and midwives (47, 41 and 40 reports per 10 000 practitioners per year, respectively). Incidence of notifications against men was more than two-and-a-half times that for women (46 v 17 reports per 10 000 practitioners per year; P < 0.001) and there was fivefold variation in incidence across states and territories.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although Australia's mandatory reporting regime is in its infancy, our data suggest that some of the adverse effects and manifest benefits forecast by critics and supporters, respectively, have not materialised. Further research should explore the variation in notification rates observed, evaluate the outcomes of reports, and test the effects of the mandatory reporting law on whistleblowing and help-seeking behaviour.
authors.affiliation: Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. mbismark@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Marie M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Bismark
authors.affiliation: Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Spittal
authors.affiliation: Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Tessa M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Plueckhahn
authors.affiliation: Stanford University School of Medicine and Stanford Law School, Stanford, Calif, USA.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Studdert
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006281:Health Occupations / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019221:Mandatory Reporting; D009726:Nurses; D010820:Physicians / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D011363:Professional Impairment; D028743:Professional Misconduct; D011584:Psychology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D035642:Whistleblowing