Health Insurance (Quality Assurance Activity – The Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC) Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident reporting system – webAIRS) Declaration 2023

Administered by Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Legislation au F2023L00429 In force Legislative Instrument

Legislation content

 

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Health Insurance Act 1973

Health Insurance (Quality Assurance Activity – The Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC) Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident reporting system – webAIRS) Declaration 2023

 

Purpose and operation

 

The Health Insurance (Quality Assurance Activity – The Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC) Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident reporting system – webAIRS) Declaration 2023 (the Declaration) declares the Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC) Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident reporting system – webAIRS (the Activity), to be a quality assurance activity to which Part VC of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (the Act) applies.

 

Part VC of the Act creates a scheme to encourage efficient quality assurance activities in connection with the provision of health services. Those activities help to ensure the quality of health services that are funded by the Government, including through Medicare benefits, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and Health Program Grants.  The scheme encourages participation in such activities by protecting certain information from disclosure, and also by providing some protection from civil liability to certain persons engaged in those activities in good faith.

 

The body authorising the Activity is the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA). The Activity will be undertaken by ANZCA in coordination with the ANZTADC, which reports to the ANZCA Council. The three parent organisations represented on the ANZTADC are ANZCA, the Australian Society of Anaesthetists and New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists. All members of the three parent organisations are eligible to participate in the Activity.

 

Authority

 

Subsection 124X(1) of the Act provides that the Minister may, by legislative instrument, declare a quality assurance activity described in a declaration to be a quality assurance activity to which Part VC of the Act applies.  The Declaration declares the Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC) Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident recording system - webAIRS (the Activity), to be a quality assurance activity to which Part VC of the Act applies.

 

Reliance on subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901

 

Under subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, where an Act confers a power to make, grant or issue any instrument of a legislative or administrative character (including rules, regulations or by-laws), the power shall be construed as including a power exercisable in the like manner and subject to the like conditions (if any) to repeal, rescind, revoke, amend, or vary any such instrument.

 

Consultation

 

ANZCA, as the applicant for declaring the activity, was consulted in relation to the content of the Declaration. Wider consultation was not considered necessary as the quality assurance activity only relates to the gathering of information for the Activity, as conducted by ANZCA. 

The declaration of the Activity will not result in any direct or substantial indirect effect on business.

 

Commencement

 

This Declaration commences on 16 April 2023.

 

General

 

This Declaration is a disallowable legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003.

 

Details of the Declaration are set out in Attachment A.

 

The Declaration is compatible with the rights and freedoms recognised or declared under section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011. A full statement of compatibility with human rights is set out in Attachment B.

 

ATTACHMENT A

Health Insurance (Quality Assurance Activity – The Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC) Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident reporting system – webAIRS) Declaration 2023

Part 1—Preliminary

Section 1 – Name

 

This section provides that the name of the Declaration is the Health Insurance (Quality Assurance Activity – The Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC) Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident reporting system – webAIRS) Declaration 2023.

 

Section 2 – Commencement

 

This section provides that the Declaration commences on 16 April 2023.

 

Section 3 – Authority

 

This section provides that the Declaration is made under subsection 124X(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973.

 

Section 4 – Repeal

 

This section provides that the Declaration will be repealed when it ceases to be in force in accordance with subsection 124X(4) of the Health Insurance Act 1973.

 

Subsection 124X(4) of the Health Insurance Act 1973 provides that a declaration of a quality assurance activity ceases to be in force at the end of 5 years after it is signed, unless sooner revoked.

 

Section 5 – Schedule

 

This section provides that the Activity described in the Schedule is declared to be a quality assurance activity to which Part VC of the Health Insurance Act 1973 applies.  

Schedule 1 – Description of quality assurance activity

Clause 1 – Name of activity

 

Clause 1 of Schedule 1 provides that the name of the Activity is ‘The Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC) Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident reporting system – webAIRS’.

 

Clause 2 – Description of activity

 

Clause 2 of Schedule 1 describes the quality assurance activity as a program that captures, analyses and disseminates de‑identified data about critical anaesthetic incidents that occur in Australia and New Zealand across a spectrum of incident severity, from near miss to severe harm, through a voluntary web‑based incident reporting system called webAIRS.

 

The webAIRS program provides a secure, de-identified repository for incident data and providers will be made aware of their responsibilities in compliance with the requirements of declared quality assurance activities to ensure the confidentiality of any identifiable data. The program encourages open self-reflective practice based on national level de-identified data and participation earns anaesthetists continuing professional development points. Local level reporting does not form part of this quality assurance activity.

 

The ANZTADC leads the process of analysing the cleansed data and release of findings. This includes aggregation of the data, so it is suitable for reporting purposes. Data is reported anonymously into the webAIRS portal. After data is entered into the webAIRS portal it is reviewed to ensure that any potentially identifiable information is removed from the incident reports. In the event that anaesthetists accidentally enter identifying data this is removed through the data cleansing process, including location and health practitioner identifiers. A webAIRS data analyst is employed specifically to undertake this process. The ANZTADC Coordinator and the Medical Director then undertake further data cleansing. Only when the data is cleansed does it become a part of the dataset used for analysis to compile case reports using numerical values such as patient BMI, age, date, time and length of procedure.

 

Nominated authors use the de-identified data to produce reports for anaesthetists via monthly e-News, quarterly articles in the ANZCA Bulletin, journal publications, conference presentations and workshops. Advisory notices are also available on the webAIRS website for registered users.

 


ATTACHMENT B

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

 

Health Insurance (Quality Assurance Activity – The Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC) Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident reporting system – webAIRS) Declaration 2023
 

This Declaration is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

Overview of the Legislative Instrument

The Health Insurance (Quality Assurance Activity – The Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC) Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident reporting system – webAIRS) Declaration 2023 (the Declaration) declares The Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC) Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident reporting system – webAIRS to be a quality assurance activity to which Part VC of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (the Act) applies.

The purpose of the Activity is to capture, analyse and disseminate de-identified national data about critical anaesthetic incidents that occur in Australia and New Zealand through a voluntary web‑based incident reporting system. Information known solely as the result of the Activity, or documents created solely for the purposes of the activity, will be covered by qualified privilege.

Human rights implications

This Declaration engages the right to health as set out in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by assisting with the progressive realisation by all appropriate means of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

The Qualified Privilege Scheme established by Part VC of the Act is aimed at encouraging participation in quality assurance activities that help to ensure that the highest possible health care standards are maintained. The quality assurance activity described in this Declaration will provide participants with a greater degree of confidence and security that their participation is solely for the benefit of establishing and improving outcomes of community health care.

This Declaration also engages, but does not limit, the right to privacy as contained in Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by involving the collection, storage, security, use, disclosure or publication of personal information. Data collected as part of the Activity will be de-identified to ensure that no individual or individuals are identified prior to analysis or disclosure of the information. Nominated authors will use the de-identified data to produce reports and disseminate the information in anaesthetic specific journal publications and at annual scientific meetings.

Conclusion

This Declaration is compatible with human rights as it promotes the right to health and does not limit the right to privacy.

 

Professor Paul Kelly

Chief Medical Officer

Department of Health and Aged Care

Overview

The Health Insurance (Quality Assurance Activity – The Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC) Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident reporting system – webAIRS) Declaration 2023 was enacted in 2023 to address the need for improved quality assurance in the provision of anaesthetic health services in Australia and New Zealand. This legislation was introduced by the Minister for Health under the authority provided by subsection 124X(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973. The Declaration aims to enhance the quality of health services funded by the government, including through Medicare benefits and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, by encouraging efficient quality assurance activities. By declaring the ANZTADC Incident Recording and Reporting Program webAIRS as a quality assurance activity, the Act seeks to protect certain information from disclosure and provide some protection from civil liability to participants engaged in good faith. The policy objective is to ensure the highest possible health care standards are maintained while protecting the privacy of individuals through the de-identification of data collected. This legislative instrument was developed following consultation with the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA), the body authorising the Activity. The Declaration is compatible with the rights and freedoms recognised or declared in international human rights instruments, particularly engaging the right to health and the right to privacy. The Qualified Privilege Scheme established by Part VC of the Act aims to encourage participation in quality assurance activities that help to ensure the highest possible health care standards are maintained. This Declaration will provide participants with greater confidence and security, knowing their participation is for the benefit of improving community health care outcomes.

Scope and Application

The Health Insurance (Quality Assurance Activity – The Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC) Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident reporting system – webAIRS) Declaration 2023 declares the ANZTADC Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident reporting system (webAIRS) as a quality assurance activity under Part VC of the Health Insurance Act 1973. This Act applies to the activity undertaken by the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) in coordination with the ANZTADC, which includes representatives from ANZCA, the Australian Society of Anaesthetists and New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists. All members of these organisations are eligible to participate in the activity, which captures, analyses and disseminates de-identified data about critical anaesthetic incidents occurring in Australia and New Zealand through the webAIRS system. The declaration aims to encourage participation in quality assurance activities by protecting certain information from disclosure and providing some protection from civil liability to persons engaged in these activities in good faith. The declaration is compatible with human rights, particularly the right to health and privacy, as the collected data is de-identified to ensure no individuals are identified prior to analysis or disclosure. The declaration commences on 16 April 2023 and will cease to be in force at the end of five years unless sooner revoked. The scope of the declaration extends to the collection, analysis, and dissemination of de-identified anaesthetic incident data across Australia and New Zealand. It is limited to national-level reporting and does not include local level reporting. The declaration is subject to repeal and may be amended or varied by subordinate instruments under the authority of subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901. The declaration is a disallowable legislative instrument under the Legislation Act 2003 and is compatible with the rights and freedoms recognised or declared in international human rights instruments. A full statement of compatibility with human rights is set out in Attachment B of the explanatory statement.

Key Provisions

The Health Insurance (Quality Assurance Activity – The Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC) Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident reporting system – webAIRS) Declaration 2023 (the Declaration) declares the Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC) Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident reporting system – webAIRS (the Activity) to be a quality assurance activity to which Part VC of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (the Act) applies. The Activity, which is a program designed to capture, analyse and disseminate de-identified data about critical anaesthetic incidents that occur in Australia and New Zealand, is intended to improve the quality of health services funded by the Government, including through Medicare benefits, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and Health Program Grants. The Declaration outlines the parameters of this quality assurance activity and its compliance with the Act. The Act imposes certain obligations on the parties involved in the Activity. The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA), which authorises the Activity, must ensure that the Activity is conducted in a manner consistent with the objectives of Part VC. ANZCA, in coordination with the ANZTADC, is responsible for the implementation and management of the Activity. All members of the three parent organisations represented on the ANZTADC, including ANZCA, the Australian Society of Anaesthetists and New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists, are eligible to participate in the Activity. Participants are required to adhere to the Activity's guidelines and protocols, including the proper handling and de-identification of incident data. The Act provides for certain protections and consequences related to the Activity. Information known solely as the result of the Activity, or documents created solely for the purposes of the Activity, will be covered by qualified privilege, which means that such information cannot be used in legal proceedings against a person who provided the information or created the document in good faith. Additionally, certain persons engaged in the Activity in good faith are provided with some protection from civil liability. The Declaration also states that the Activity will not result in any direct or substantial indirect effect on business. However, any breaches of the Activity's guidelines or protocols could result in disciplinary action or other consequences as determined by the relevant professional bodies. In summary, the Health Insurance (Quality Assurance Activity – The Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC) Incident Recording and Reporting Program web based anaesthetic incident reporting system – webAIRS) Declaration 2023 declares the webAIRS program to be a quality assurance activity under Part VC of the Health Insurance Act 1973. The Act imposes certain obligations on the parties involved in the Activity and provides for certain protections and consequences related to the Activity. The Declaration aims to encourage participation in quality assurance activities that help to ensure the highest possible health care standards are maintained, while also promoting the right to health and protecting the right to privacy.

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Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation at 26 August 2026. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to https://www.legislation.gov.au.