Commentary on the private practice implications of the Deed of Settlement in the Honeysuckle Health - NIB Australian-Competition-Tribunal-hearing.

Objective: To provide a commentary on the implications of the Deed of Settlement in the Honeysuckle Health - nib Australian-Competition-Tribunal Hearing. This hearing has major implications in relation to the potential for a single dominant private-health-insurance buying-group to contract for medical-purchaser-provider-agreements that might limit the clinical autonomy of patients and psychiatrists.

Conclusions: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) authorised the formation of a joint buying-group for private-health-insurers in 2021 to provide collective contracting and related services to private-health-insurers and other healthcare-payers.

Primary Sjogren's Syndrome Associated With Treatment-Resistant Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

There is an increasing awareness that autoimmune diseases can present with neuropsychiatric manifestations. We present the case of a 17-year-old female requiring psychiatric hospitalization for obsessive-compulsive disorder and major depressive disorder with mixed affective features, who was subsequently diagnosed with primary Sjogren's syndrome. Treatment with potent immunosuppression resulted in remission of psychiatric illness.

The erosion of psychiatrist-patient confidentiality by subpoenas.

Objectives: We explore the reasons for the prolific use of subpoenas to gain access to psychiatric records in Australia. We examine the applicable legal principles and practices at the New South Wales (NSW) and Commonwealth levels, aiming to develop recommendations for Australian Governments to curb the inappropriate and harmful use of subpoenas.

Conclusion: Unfettered legal access to psychiatric records is inconsistent with professional ethical guidelines and risks undermining the provision of quality psychiatric care to the community.