Our people and partners
Director, Professional Services Review
The PSR Scheme is managed by the Director, an independent statutory officer appointed by the Minister for Health under section 83 of the Health Insurance Act 1973. The Director must be a medical practitioner, and the Australian Medical Association (AMA) must agree to the appointment.
As head of the PSR Agency, the Director conducts reviews and ensures support is available for the PSR Committees and Determining Authority. The Director also acts as the agency’s accountable authority as described in the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.
The Director manages PSR staff as set out in our organisation chart.
Executive and Management Committee
The PSR’s Executive and Management Committee consists of the Director, Executive Officer and Unit Managers. As PSR is a small agency, this committee performs several support and monitoring roles that might be performed by specialist committees in a larger organisation. It meets every month and advises the Director on:
- planning
- budgeting
- financial management
- performance monitoring
- privacy, security and information management
- corporate governance, including human resources and work health and safety.
The committee enables PSR to work across organisational boundaries to achieve its corporate objectives. It promotes the core principles of good public sector governance, such as leadership, accountability, transparency, integrity, efficiency and risk management.
Key decision-makers
The PSR Scheme relies on key decision-makers to do its work. All are statutory appointments made by the Minister of Health after consultation with the AMA or other relevant professional bodies as set out in the Health Insurance Act 1973:
- PSR Director
- independent statutory officer and medical practitioner (section 83)
- PSR Panel
- medical and other health care practitioners who may sit on peer review Committees (section 84) or provide assistance to the Director (section 90)
- Deputy Directors
- Panel members who chair PSR Committees (section 85)
- Determining Authority
- comprises a permanent chair (medical practitioner), a permanent lay person and a member who represents the profession of the practitioner being reviewed (section 106ZPB).
Our full list of current appointees includes appointment start and end dates.
Our government partners
The Director of PSR reports to the Minister for Health and Aged Care, who has portfolio responsibility for administering the Health Insurance Act 1973, including the PSR Scheme.
PSR works with several government entities and other organisations.
Department of Health and Aged Care: The department’s work is relevant to PSR in several ways:
- The department provides legislation development and policy advice to the Minister for Health about the PSR Scheme, Medicare, the PBS and CDBS.
- Delegates of the Chief Executive Medicare, based in the department, may ask the PSR Director to review possible inappropriate practice.
- PSR may seek Medicare and PBS data from the department when investigating a practitioner under review.
- The department implements the Determining Authority’s final determinations and ratified section 92 agreements, including any disqualifications and repayment of Medicare benefits.
Services Australia: Services Australia administers payments for Medicare, PBS and CDBS.
Professional organisations and registration bodies: PSR’s peer review process relies on the support of health practitioners, their professional organisations and registration bodies. Under the Health Insurance Act 1973, PSR must consult with the AMA and other professional organisations on statutory appointments, and the PSR Director can only be appointed with the agreement of the AMA.