Ms Rosemary Huxtable PSM

Rosemary Huxtable is a Deputy Secretary with the Department of Health and Ageing.

Ms Huxtable re-joined the Department of Health and Ageing in February 2003 and was promoted to the position of Deputy Secretary in March 2010.

As Deputy Secretary, Ms Huxtable is currently responsible for a number of portfolio areas including ageing and aged care, aged care quality and compliance, e-health, mental health and chronic disease. Prior to March 2011, Ms Huxtable had responsibility for primary and ambulatory care, rural health and corporate administration and provided oversight to the Department’s work on the national health reform agenda leading up to the Council of Australian Governments meeting in April 2010.

Prior to her current role, Ms Huxtable was the First Assistant Secretary of the Health Policy Taskforce which negotiated the 2008 National Healthcare Agreement with the States and Territories and advanced a number of reforms through COAG in the areas of prevention, Indigenous health, hospitals and the health workforce.

From 2005 to 2007, Ms Huxtable was the First Assistant Secretary of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Division where she managed the process of evaluating, listing and supply of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) medicines, negotiated the Fourth Community Pharmacy Agreement and developed and implemented reforms to the pricing of PBS medicines.

Ms Huxtable was a key player in reforms to Medicare including the development of the Medicare Safety Net and the introduction of allied health and practice nurse items on the Medicare Benefits Schedule.

Ms Huxtable has worked for the past 30 years in the areas of health and community services across the public and private sectors, including a number of years on Ministerial staff, a period managing a private consulting business and around 15 years in Commonwealth administration.

In 2005 Ms Huxtable received a Public Service Medal for her work on Medicare.