Health Insurance (Quality Assurance Activity – Australasian Registry of Electrocardiograms in National Athletes (ARENA)) Declaration 2025
I, MICHAEL KIDD, delegate for the Minister for Health and Ageing and Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, make the following declaration under section 124X of the Health Insurance Act 1973.
Dated 28 July 2025
Michael Kidd
Professor Michael Kidd
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Part 1———Preliminary 1
1 Name...................................................1
2 Commencement............................................1
3 Authority................................................1
4 Repeal ..................................................1
5 Schedule.................................................1
Schedule 1—Description of quality assurance activity 2
1 Name of activity ............................................2
2 Description of activity.........................................2
This instrument is the Health Insurance (Quality Assurance Activity – Australasian Registry of Electrocardiograms in National Athletes (ARENA)) Declaration 2025.
(1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.
Commencement information | ||
Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |
Provisions | Commencement | Date/Details |
1. The whole of this instrument | The day after this instrument is registered. |
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Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.
This instrument is made under subsection 124X(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973.
This instrument is repealed when it ceases to be in force in accordance with subsection 124X(4) of the Health Insurance Act 1973.
The quality assurance activity described in the Schedule to this declaration is, to the extent that the quality assurance activity relates to health services provided in Australia, declared to be a quality assurance activity to which Part VC of the Health Insurance Act 1973 applies.
Australasian Registry of Electrocardiograms in National Athletes (ARENA)
2 Description of activity
This declaration applies to the Australasian Registry of Electrocardiograms in National Athletes (ARENA).
This quality assurance activity consists of a registry of athlete screening data, including electrocardiograms (ECGs) and other cardiac tests, collected in Australasia. All elite sporting organisations in Australia conducting cardiac screening of athletes are eligible to participate and provide data.
The activity provides a long-term data repository to improve our understanding of ECG interpretation and cardiac diagnoses, and the rates of major cardiovascular outcomes in screened athletes.
The activity is conducted by the University of Sydney. The University of Sydney has contracted the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) Registry Centre to host ARENA and to provide ongoing advice with registry operations and governance. ARENA is funded by National Health and Medical Research Council grants.
ARENA was developed in collaboration with sporting bodies, team physicians, and players association representatives. Data is entered into the registry via a database, securely stored at SAHMRI, and de-identified datasets are developed for use for analysis, recommendations, and research purposes, with the results to be published.
The analysis of national level data contained in ARENA will be used to inform improvements to screening policies and guidelines, particularly for underrepresented athlete groups like female athletes and Indigenous populations, including to improve the accuracy of athlete ECG interpretation.
The disclosure of information related to the activity will use de-identified and aggregated data to produce reports and disseminate information in the following ways: