35,000 primary care clinicians receive sleep education through ASA grants!

Alex Sweetman and Stacey Putland

Thank you to everyone that has contributed to another successful year of primary care education through the ASA Commonwealth Grant activities. The Health Peak and Advisory Bodies program has provided education to over 22,000 general practitioners, psychologists, and primary care nurses...

Medicare compliance update

In April this year, we communicated with members in relation to upcoming Medicare compliance activities.

The Department has provided an update in relation to the timing of planned activities:

• Claiming MBS services while overseas - the department anticipates commencement of a large education campaign for specialists in November 2025. An audit program will also commence for specialists whose claiming while overseas demonstrates a more routine nature.
• MBS items 132 and 133 – the department is currently finalising treatment design for this claiming. We anticipate a significant education focus with only a small number of enforcement activities.

For both of these activities, ASA will receive notification about 2 weeks prior to the commencement of any contact with members and we will communicate that to members.

The Department has provided an overview on the background to these compliance activities, which includes data on claiming of the treatment and management plan items by sleep and respiratory physicians. Read the overview

More information about the claiming of sleep study item numbers while overseas is included in the April update article. 

For further information on this topic, please contact the CEO, Marcia Balzer.

Propose an international speaker for Sleep DownUnder 2026

Suggest an international speaker to feature on our program by completing the proposal form by close of business on Friday 21 November.

• We’re looking for international speakers who are engaging and gifted communicators, who will connect well with delegates.
• We ask that you propose a topic for the keynote plenary presentation. The topic should provide a global, state-of-the-art perspective that will appeal to a broad cross-section of ASA and ANZSSA members. An interdisciplinary or thought-provoking dimension often makes for a good keynote topic.
• When communicating with potential international speakers, please be aware that they will be expected to speak in at least one additional Sleep DownUnder symposium session and may be asked to participate in other ways through chairing or joining a discussion panel.

The Sleep DownUnder Committee will be considering all these aspects as well as geographic, ethnic and gender diversity when deciding who will be invited. Diversity and inclusion policy

Please also note that the successful proposer will be asked to organise an informal host or buddy for the international speaker to ensure they have a positive and enjoyable experience during the conference.

Sleep DownUnder 2025 sessions available in Learning Centre

If you missed the fantastic scientific program at Sleep DownUnder 2025 in Adelaide, selected sessions are now available on demand in the ASA Learning Centre. There's a range of topics included in the collection, including the very popular NIV short course.

Registered delegates of Sleep DownUnder 2025 have been emailed a discount code that allows them to enrol in on-demand sessions for free. For everyone else, each conference session costs $30 for ASA members and $60 for others. The NIV short course costs $150 for ASA members and $300 for others. CPD points and certificates are awarded automatically when you complete the activity. 

Official ASA email channels

We have become aware of recent scam attempts targeting our community. There have been reports of receiving emails that appear to come from ASA or ASA staff, but are using fake email addresses and are designed to obtain personal information or money. Official ASA email channels.

These scam emails may:

• Use a sender name that looks legitimate but comes from a non-ASA email address
• Ask you to purchase gift cards, transfer funds, or share personal details
• Create a sense of urgency to pressure quick action
• Contain unusual wording or grammatical errors

What you need to do:

• Do not respond, click links, open attachments or send any money if an email seems suspicious.
• When in doubt, contact us directly using the contact details on our website 

Your safety and trust matter to us, and we’re here to help.