Insights Sectors: Dental

October is Cyber Security Awareness Month (CSAM). CSAM is an annual reminder for Australians to stay safe online and protect your online information and assets. The theme for CSAM 2023 is ‘be cyber aware – don’t compromise’. CSAM is an opportunity for businesses to review their understanding of ‘cyber security’ as a concept while continuing […]

Meridian Lawyers acts for dental practitioners in the sale and purchase of dental practices. This article provides a brief overview of the legal process, together with practical tips on how to make the process as pain-free as possible. Step 1: Gather information about your practice The dental practitioner selling the business (vendor) will be expected […]

Case note: Health Care Complaints Commission v FLJ [2023] NSWCATOD 7 Key takeaways Health professionals convicted of serious criminal charges, such as domestic violence, may have their medical registration suspended. This applies if their offending conduct demonstrates traits that are inconsistent with the values of the medical profession and brings the medical profession into disrepute. Health […]

Recent payroll tax decisions and policy developments in NSW, QLD, and VIC have put medical and allied health practices across the country at risk of incurring large payroll tax liabilities. This Insight provides you with critical information on how your business could be affected. Different business structures Practices using service entities to provide administrative and […]

The Australian privacy landscape is changing. In December 2022, amendments came into force to amend the Privacy Act 1998 (Cth) (the Privacy Act) to increase the maximum penalties related to serious and repeated breaches of the Australian Privacy Principles (the APPs) and the Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme. As a result of these amendments, the maximum […]

If you operate a health service, or are a health practitioner working in NSW, you need to be aware of a regulation that came into effect on 1 September 2022 being the Public Health Regulation 2022. The regulation sets out prescriptive obligations for all health practitioners and health organisations, be they public or private. For […]

Meridian is increasingly receiving enquiries from both health practitioners and service providers seeking advice regarding negative reviews placed online by members of the public. Sometimes the reviews are thought to be unfair and unreasonable, and sometimes they cross over the line and are abusive and defamatory. With the ever increasing reliance on digital marketing and […]

On 12 July 2021, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) instituted proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against SmileDirectClub Aus Pty Ltd and its US parent company, SmileDirectClub LLC (SmileDirectClub), alleging they had breached the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). The ACCC claims that between May 2019 and October 2020, SmileDirectClub breached section 18 […]

Recently, we published an article outlining the dos and don’ts of COVID-19 vaccine promotion. Our Insight summarises how vaccine providers and other parties can lawfully provide information about and promote COVID-19 vaccines. The promotion of vaccines and health services generally, across a variety of communication mediums, is regulated by advertising laws. Social media in particular, […]

In 2016, the Victorian government introduced the Health Complaints Act 2016 (Vic) (the Act) which launched a new framework for managing and resolving complaints regarding all Victorian health service providers. As part of these reforms, the office of the Health Complaints Commissioner (the HCC) was established, replacing the former office of the Health Services Commissioner. […]

Professional Services Review (PSR) is a Commonwealth Agency whose objective is to protect the integrity of the Commonwealth Medicare benefits, dental benefits and pharmaceutical benefits programs and, in doing so, protect patients and the community from the risks associated with ‘inappropriate practice’, and protect the Commonwealth from having to meet the cost of medical and […]