Legal shortcuts that can put your healthcare practice at risk

Running a healthcare practice means balancing patient care with budgets, staffing and limited time. When a legal issue pops up, the temptation is to deal with it quickly, cheaply and move on. That might mean downloading a contract template, reusing an agreement from a few years ago or asking Google or an artificial intelligence ("AI") tool for a quick answer.

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Sarah Bartholomeusz
From practitioner to director: What changes when you become responsible for the business

What changes when your responsibilities expand from caring for patients to directing the business. 

 

The transition from practitioner to director brings a wider set of responsibilities. Alongside your clinical work, you become responsible for decisions that shape the practice’s people, finances, compliance and future. 

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Sarah Bartholomeusz
Is your practice ready for the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 changes?

A significant change to the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 (the Award) takes effect from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 October 2026.

For healthcare and allied health practice owners, this is not simply another increase to minimum Award rates. A new classification structure will also apply to health professional employees covered by the Award.

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Sarah Bartholomeusz
Practice owners: 5 agreement risks to check before the credit card surcharge ban starts

From 1 October 2026, bank card surcharging will change significantly for Australian businesses, including medical and allied health practices. Following its review of merchant card payment costs, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has removed restrictions that previously prevented designated card networks from imposing “no-surcharge” rules. EFTPOS, Mastercard and Visa have announced that card surcharges will no longer be permitted on their networks from

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Sarah Bartholomeusz
Practice owners: The Partnered Health cyber breach is a warning to test your privacy response now

Healthcare practices hold some of the most sensitive information about Australians. When that information is accessed in a cyber incident, the consequences for patients can extend well beyond simply replacing a password or cancelling a bank card.

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Sarah Bartholomeusz
Practice owners: Why your compliance checklist has doubled (and what you cannot afford to overlook)

Most healthcare practice owners believe they are broadly compliant.  

They have practitioner agreements in place, privacy documentation and employment contracts. They have been operating successfully for years and assume that if nothing has gone wrong, their compliance framework must still be fit for purpose. 

Increasingly, that assumption is proving to be incorrect.

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Sarah Bartholomeusz
Why ChatGPT Shouldn't Be Writing Your Employment Agreements

AI tools such as ChatGPT can produce employment agreements that look polished and professional. But polished is not the same as compliant. Here is why healthcare practices should be cautious.

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Sarah Bartholomeusz
Privacy, consent and the compliant practice: What the Privacy Act reforms mean for your clinic right now

Most healthcare practices assume their privacy and consent processes are compliant until something tests them. 

That test may be a patient complaint, a data breach, an Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (‘AHPRA’) advertising concern, a staff mistake, a website review, or a question from a prospective buyer during due diligence. By that stage, the issue is rarely just the wording of a policy. It is often a gap between what the clinic says it does and what actually happens day to day

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Sarah Bartholomeusz
Opening a second clinic? Here’s where most practices get it wrong

For many practice owners, opening a second clinic feels like the next logical step. The first location is operating well, patient demand is growing and expansion appears commercially sensible. In many cases, the second site is secured quickly once the right premises become available.

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Sarah Bartholomeusz