Director, Professional Services Review v Yoong
[2023] FCA 1525
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Federal Court of Australia
Decision date
2023-12-05
Before
Mr P, Rangiah J, Perry J, Collier J, Burley J
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Judgment (9 paragraphs)
- The appellant's review of services of the respondent commenced on 30 April 2019 be suspended until the final determination of this proceeding.
- The costs of the appellant's interlocutory application of 13 November 2023 be costs in the appeal. Note: Entry of orders is dealt with in Rule 39.32 of the Federal Court Rules 2011.
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT 1 INTRODUCTION [1] 2 BACKGROUND [10] 3 RELEVANT STATUTORY PROVISIONS [27] 4 THE SUBMISSIONS [39] 5 CONSIDERATION [46] 5.1 Addendum [57] 5.2 Disposition [62]
- INTRODUCTION 1 Before the Court is an interlocutory application filed by the Director, Professional Services Review (appellant), seeking orders that the appellant's review of professional services of the respondent commenced on 30 April 2019 (Review) be suspended until the final determination of the proceedings. The appellant relies on an affidavit affirmed on 13 November 2023 by Andrew Shelley, Special Counsel, Professional Services Review Agency, in support of the application. 2 The proceedings have a lengthy history and arise from a request made by the Chief Executive of Medicare to the appellant to review the provision of services by the respondent, Matthew Yoong, pursuant to s 86 of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (Cth) (HIA). The appellant decided, pursuant to s 88A of the HIA, to undertake the Review and subsequently issued a Notice to Produce pursuant to s 89B requiring that Dr Yoong produce various patient medical records. 3 Dr Yoong has challenged each of the three decisions involved in this course of events: (a) the decision by the Chief Executive of Medicare to make the request; (b) the decision of the appellant to undertake the Review; and (c) the decision of the appellant to issue the Notice to Produce. He failed in his challenge to the first two decisions (Yoong v Chief Executive of Medicare [2021] FCA 701 (Yoong 1) (Rangiah J)), but succeeded in relation to the decision to issue the Notice to Produce and a subsequent decision by the appellant under s 106ZPM(2) which had the effect of preventing Medicare benefits being payable in respect of services rendered or initiated by Dr Yoong (Yoong v Director, Professional Services Review [2023] FCA 1186 (Yoong 3) (Perry J)). 4 During the pendency of each of these proceedings, the Court made three orders pursuant to s 94 of the HIA to suspend the Review pursuant to s 88A. Such a suspension was necessary because, pursuant to s 94 of the HIA, there is a 12-month time limit for the appellant to make a decision unless the review is suspended, inter alia, because of an injunction or other court order; s 94(2)(b). 5 The first suspension was ordered by Rangiah J in the course of the proceedings before him. The second was ordered by Collier J upon an interlocutory application being made by the appellant; Yoong v Director, Professional Services Review [2021] FCA 1445 (Yoong 2). The third was ordered by Perry J on 31 October 2023 following delivery of Yoong 3, in order to permit the appellant to file a Notice of Appeal. 6 The appellant filed a Notice of Appeal on 3 November 2023, challenging the correctness of the decision in Yoong 3. That appeal has not yet been listed for hearing. However, the suspension ordered on 31 October 2023 was set to expire on 30 November 2023 (and has subsequently been extended to allow time for this decision to be made). 7 The appellant contends that unless the suspension is extended until the determination of the appeal, he will be deprived of the opportunity to conduct the Review with the benefit of documents produced in accordance with the Notice to Produce, should his appeal succeed. That is because, in short, the 12-month period under s 94 is currently set to expire on 3 May 2024. Without further suspension, the time within which the appeal can be conducted will continue to run. In the event that he succeeds in his appeal, and he is permitted to receive and review documents in accordance with the Notice to Produce, it is likely that the time for the conduct of the Review will have expired, or any time remaining will in any event be insufficient for him to review documents produced and comply with his obligations under s 89C of the HIA to consider and report upon his investigations. 8 Dr Yoong opposes the orders sought. 9 For the reasons set out below, the application is allowed.