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🏛 House of Representatives3 readingsAmendments circulated
Health Insurance Amendment (Professional Services Review Scheme No. 2) 2023
✦ Plain-English Summary
# Health Insurance Amendment (Professional Services Review Scheme No. 2) 2023
## What it does
This law expands the Professional Services Review (PSR) scheme — which investigates doctors and health practitioners for inappropriate billing or practice — to also cover people who *used to* be practitioners but have since left the profession. Previously, the scheme could only review currently active practitioners.
## Why it matters
This closes a loophole where someone could stop practising medicine or health work to avoid investigation into their past conduct. It ensures accountability extends beyond someone's active career and protects patients from practitioners with a history of problematic billing or unsafe practices re-entering the system.
## Key details
- **Who's affected**: Former doctors, dentists, physiotherapists and other health professionals can now be investigated for past conduct even after they've retired or changed careers
- **Scope**: The review scheme can examine their conduct across multiple sections of the Health Insurance Act, including inappropriate practice determinations and medical examinations during review
- **When it starts**: The changes take effect the day after the bill receives Royal Assent (automatically came into force once passed)
Official Description
Amends the Health Insurance Act 1973 in relation to the Professional Services Review (PSR) Scheme by amending the requirements for qualification of committee members, clarifying that references to a practitioner include a practitioner who is not currently registered, clarifying the requirements for a person under review notifying a committee that they are unable to attend a hearing due to medical reasons, and enabling the Director to extend the 12-month review period in certain circumstances.
Audit History
Last updated on APH
10 Apr 2026
Last checked by Crossbench
yesterday
Full text indexed
yesterday
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