No reasons have reportedly been given for the dean of medicine’s removal from the role.
The former director of the Medicare watchdog, Professor Julie Quinlivan, has been removed as Curtin University’s dean of medicine, The West Australian and Nine newspapers have reported.
Professor Quinlivan, who was director of the Professional Services Review for five years, was reportedly given no reason for the termination and emailed medical school staff to say she didn’t know why it had happened. She only suggested her “management style of participatory democracy is not favoured by Curtin”, the papers reported.
The termination has taken many in the medical community by surprise, not least because Professor Quinlivan only took up the position in July.
In welcoming her to the university in early April, Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne said she brought with her “a wealth of experience, not only in public and private practice as a medical specialist, but from her distinguished career in health services management and the tertiary sector”.
AMA WA president Dr Mark Duncan-Smith told The West Australian he was “stunned” by the news that she would not continue as dean.
“[I had always found her to be] intelligent, insightful, ethical and very experienced,” Dr Duncan-Smith said. “I thought she was an excellent choice for the new dean at Curtin University, and I have no idea of why these events have unfolded this way.”
Earlier this year, Queensland ophthalmologist Dr David Kitchen commenced a misfeasance suit against Professor Quinlivan. The suit follows an order of the Federal Court that in 2018, Professor Quinlivan did not knowingly take into account Dr Kitchen’s submission before setting up a PSR committee to investigate him.
TMR does not suggest any connection between that case and Professor Quinlivan’s departure from Curtin.
The misfeasance case is ongoing, with document discovery about to begin.
Professor Quinlivan’s removal from the dean of medicine role also comes as the PSR faces growing scrutiny and criticism.
Last month, Associate Professor Gino Pecoraro, chair of advocacy and support group Australian Health Practitioners Advisory Solutions visited Canberra to raise concerns about Medicare’s investigative arm.
The review of Medicare’s compliance mechanisms announced recently by Health Minister Mark Butler “needs to look at all of the legislation, including what happens to someone who’s investigated and accused of doing the wrong thing,” Professor Pecoraro told TMR. “At the moment, if you’re accused, you don’t have procedural fairness.
More recently, Professor Quinlivan was one of several high-profile critics of media claims that there was evidence of widespread Medicare fraud within the medical profession. She has also been a critic of the North Queensland pharmacy scope of practice trial.
The Health Department told TMR in March that the pharmacist trial was “not consistent with Commonwealth medicines policy”, which at the time was the most extensive criticism of the trial by a Commonwealth agency yet.
The PSR can be called on to review conduct of prescribers under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and their employers, DoH said.
Curtin has appointed Professor Lynne Emmerton as interim dean of medicine. Professor Emmerton’s academic background is in pharmacy practice and her research interests have included the provision of specialist services by pharmacists and the appropriate availability of medicines without prescription.
