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Premier flags parliamentary oversight for Ombudsman
25 November 2009.
Two months after AMA Victoria raised concerns to the Premier about the Victorian Ombudsman’s lack of accountability, the Victorian Government has announced a review of the state’s leading integrity bodies.
AMA Victoria wrote to the Premier in September after the Ombudsman made errors of fact in two reports on surgeons’ billing practices, and refused to discuss the findings of the report and our concerns about his processes.
A number of doctors alerted AMA Victoria to intimidation techniques used by the Ombudsman’s office in gathering information for the surgeons’ billing reports.
Interviewees were denied the right to have a lawyer present and were told they could not disclose the fact they had been interviewed.
The factual errors in the reports were based on misunderstanding of the trauma surgery billing and the requirement of the Transport Accident Commission to pay ‘reasonable medical expenses’ to surgeons regardless of whether they adhered to the MBS.
AMA Victoria offered to assist the Ombudsman to understand the complexities of trauma surgery billing but our offer was not taken up.
After announcing the review of Victoria’s integrity bodies late last month, Premier Brumby acknowledged that the Victorian Auditor-General reported to a parliamentary committee and said there was an argument for similar oversight of the Ombudsman.
The review will be led by former public service head Elizabeth Proust and assisted by the Public Standards Commissioner Peter Allen. The terms of reference will remain open, allowing for the possibility of a completely different model for scrutinising integrity and governance.
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