PSR Newsletter, April 2021

Welcome to the April 2021 edition of the quarterly PSR Panel Newsletter.

Agency activity summary for the quarter

In the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2021 the Agency received 20 new requests (including 1 practitioner who had previously been referred). The Agency finalised 24 requests. This comprised:

• 21 effective section 92 agreements
• 2 effective final determinations
• 1 section 91 ‘no further action’ outcome

A total of $6,830,995.50 in repayment directions were made from the finalised matters. Of the finalised matters, 20 involved some form of disqualification.

In this period 5 new peer review Committees were established and 5 practitioners were referred to AHPRA either due to significant patient safety concerns or non-compliance with professional standards.
 

New appointments to the PSR Panel

The following appointments were made to the PSR Panel in the last quarter:

• Professor Allan Kermode
• Dr Andrew Brooks
• Associate Professor Elizabeth McCusker
• Dr Elspeth Hutton
• Dr Peter Heathcote
• Dr Stephen Brough

The following PSR Deputy Director Appointments were made in the last quarter:

• Professor Allan Kermode
• Dr Eleanor Chew
• Dr Peter Heathcote
• Dr Suzanne Miau

The process is currently underway to appoint some additional panel members in new specialties.
 

Training

Thank you to everyone who attended the PSR Panel Member training held on:

• Saturday 20 February 2021 in Sydney, for NSW members
• Saturday 27 February 2021 in Brisbane, for Queensland members and
• Saturday 6 March 2021 in Canberra (and online), for ACT, SA, VIC, WA and Tasmania members.

The training events were well-attended, with PSR having not conducted our regular training in 2020 due to COVID-19. At the training an overview was provided of the current PSR caseload and how this is being managed during the pandemic, including information about how PSR is now utilising Microsoft Teams and GovTEAMS. PSR staff were present to assist panel members with their GovTEAMS requirements. If any Panel Members have continuing issues with GovTEAMS or Microsoft Teams, please get in touch with PSR and our staff will assist you.

The training also included a summary of recent PSR litigation, a privacy refresher and information on the role of the Determining Authority. If you were unable to attend the training and would like to access the materials provided on these topics, please contact PSR.
 

Advertising for Panel renewal

In November 2021, PSR will advertise nationally for substantive appointments to the PSR Panel. These will be five-year appointments. Current Panel members with terms expiring in 2022 will be invited to re-apply. New applications for appointment will also be considered. PSR will be looking for additional female practitioners to apply so we can further improve the gender balance of our Panel. We will provide more information closer to this date.
 

Senate Estimates

PSR appeared at Senate Estimates in March. Questions about Medicare fraud and how the Department of Health identified cases for referral were addressed by officers from the Department.
 

Meetings with stakeholders

The Director held a number of meetings with stakeholders in this quarter. These included:

• Australasian College of Dermatologists
• Australian College of Nursing
• Australian Dental Association
• Australian Medical Association Department of Health
• Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists
• Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
• Royal Australian College of Physicians
• The Office of the Hon. Greg Hunt, Minister for Health and Aged Care
   

PSR New Case unit staff

The Agency has secured additional funding and an increase in the APS staff cap. This has enabled the Agency to establish a new team within the case management group. The new Corporate Review Team is headed by Ms Kylie Neville and is supported by case manager Mr Anthony Todd.

New case managers have also been employed for the other two case teams. These two teams remain under the supervision of Ms Margaret Parker and Mr Michael Darmody and the new case managers employed to assist in these teams are Ms Ellin Kim and Ms Angela Moran.
 

Resumption of all Committees and meetings with practitioners under review

PSR has now resumed all Committees and has commenced face-to-face meetings with practitioners under review. Practitioners may still elect to have a video or telephone meeting at the Director’s stage of the review process. Committees have scheduled hearing dates up to August 2021.
 

PSR Outcomes

PSR publishes a monthly summary of case outcomes on its website. Each summary provides some idea of the person under review's practice profile (in comparison to their peers) and this helps understand why they were referred to PSR for review. In addition, the summaries detail the items investigated, the findings (in the case of a Committee) or the agreement reached between the person under review and the Director (PSR), and the penalties applied.