41AAuthorised use or disclosure—integrity of medicare programs, patient safety etc.

#### 41A Authorised use or disclosure—integrity of medicare programs, patient safety etc. (1) A person may disclose protected information to an entrusted public official, and an entrusted public official may use or disclose protected information, for the purposes of: (a) the integrity or sustainability of a medicare program; or (b) the protection of a person from a risk arising from, or in connection with, the provision of a benefit or service under a medicare program. > Note: For paragraph (a), subsection (4) extends the meaning of the integrity or sustainability of a medicare program. (2) A person or body that receives protected information under subsection (1) may use or disclose that information for the same purposes as the purposes for which the information is disclosed to the person or body under subsection (1). (3) However, this section does not authorise the following disclosures: (a) disclosure by any of the following persons of protected information obtained as a result of a review or investigation under Part VAA of the Health Insurance Act 1973: (i) a person appointed under Division 2 of that Part; (ii) a member of staff or a consultant engaged under section 106ZM or 106ZP of that Act; (iii) a person whose services are made available under section 106ZN of that Act; (iv) a person providing services under section 106ZPL of that Act; (v) any other person engaged (whether as an employee or otherwise) by the Professional Services Review to provide services in connection with the performance of duties or functions, or the exercise of powers, under that Part; (b) disclosure, by a person consulted under section 90 of that Act, of protected information obtained in connection with that consultation. > Note: For paragraph (a), such persons include the Director or an Associate Director of Professional Services Review or a Panel member of the Professional Services Review Panel (all within the meaning of Part VAA of the Health Insurance Act 1973). Integrity or sustainability of a medicare program (4) For the purposes of subsection (1): (a) a reference to the purposes of the integrity or sustainability of a medicare program includes a reference to the need to ensure that access to the program is limited to circumstances where requirements or parameters (whether or not statutory) relating to the program are met; and (b) a reference to a use or disclosure being for those purposes is taken to include a reference to the use or disclosure being for the purposes of ensuring that the delivery of the program is not compromised by mistakes, misconduct, fraud or non‑compliance, including in relation to those requirements or parameters.