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Fertility care and the specialist register
The National Law says a person must not knowingly or recklessly use a specialist title for a recognised specialty unless they are registered in that specialty. The Specialists Register then shows, for each specialist, the specialty and field of specialty practice they are registered in. This guide, published by Dotto, explains those titles, the public registers, Medicare’s referral rule and the law on health advertising.
This guide is not a clinic. It offers no treatment, names no doctor and makes no referrals.
General information, not medical or legal advice. The official place to check a practitioner is Ahpra’s register of practitioners, and Ahpra says a name on it means the person is allowed to practise.
Fields
What each field on the card means
- Name
- The name a practitioner is registered under. Ahpra notes this can differ from the name they are commonly known by.
- Profession
- Ahpra keeps one list of every health practitioner registered to practise in Australia in the professions it covers.
- Registration type
- Where a practitioner’s type of registration limits what they can do, Ahpra publishes it on the register.
- Conditions
- Conditions limiting a practitioner’s work are published there too.
- Specialty
- For a doctor with specialist registration, the Specialists Register gives the specialty.
- Field of specialty practice
- Some specialties have fields within them, and the Specialists Register gives a specialist’s field of specialty practice too.
Guides
Five guides, one field each
- 01 · Field: SpecialtySpecialist titles in fertility care
Which titles the National Law protects, how a doctor gains specialist registration, and what the word ‘specialist’ implies.
- 02 · Field: NameChecking a doctor’s registration
Searching by name or by registration number, what an entry can show, and what the law says the register must hold.
- 03 · Field: ReferralSpecialist referrals and Medicare
What makes a referral count for Medicare, what it must include, and how long it lasts.
- 04 · Field: AdvertisingHow doctors may advertise
Section 133 of the National Law, quoted in full, and Ahpra’s guidance on titles in advertising.
- 05 · Field: RegistersWhat the Specialists Register shows
The two registers in section 223, conditions on a specialist’s practice, and the yearly renewal date.
Key rules
The rules in brief
Titles. Ahpra says the National Law protects the public by making sure only registered practitioners who are suitably trained and qualified use the titles protected under sections 113 to 119. Section 115(1) says a person must not knowingly or recklessly use a specialist title for a recognised specialty unless they are registered under the Law in that specialty, and it sets a maximum penalty. Specialist titles in fertility care quotes the sections.
The list. The specialties, their fields and the specialist titles for doctors are set in one list, approved by the Ministerial Council on 26 August 2025 and in effect from 22 September 2025. Under the specialty Obstetrics and gynaecology, it names the field of specialty practice “Reproductive endocrinology and infertility”, with the specialist title “Specialist in reproductive endocrinology and infertility”.
Referrals. For certain services by specialists and consultant physicians, the Medicare benefit depends on acceptable evidence that the service followed a referral from another practitioner. Specialist referrals and Medicare sets out what a referral must include and how long it lasts.
Advertising. Among other things, section 133 of the National Law says a person must not advertise a regulated health service in a way that “is false, misleading or deceptive or is likely to be misleading or deceptive”. How doctors may advertise gives the whole subsection.
Publisher
Who publishes this guide
This guide is published by Dotto from the National Law and official pages, listed at the foot of each page. It names no practitioner, clinic or hospital.