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National healthcare authorities are investigating reports of healthcare insurance fraud in Anhui province's Taihe county. The announcement was made by the National Healthcare Security
Administration on Wednesday, two days after Beijing News reported that
four hospitals in the county had forged records to make fraudulent
insurance claims. The unlawful practices allegedly happened at one public hospital and
three private ones, and included providing fake hospitalization
documents for patients who did not need treatment so that the government
would pay for their hospital stays. In one case, an elderly man surnamed Wang was hospitalized by the
public Taihe No 5 People's Hospital three days after he was discharged
by the private Dongfang Hospital. Wang told Beijing News that he had been hospitalized nine times this
year. "I lived in hospitals for almost three months. I would go to
whichever one promised me free hospitalization," he said. But hospitalization documents claimed the patients had all received treatment. In another case, a fake patient whose name was not given in the
report, paid 500 yuan ($76) to Dongfang Hospital before being
hospitalized. Six days later, hospitalization documents show that the
person had spent 1,817 yuan, of which 1,318 yuan had been covered by
healthcare insurance. The cashier then returned 300 yuan to the person, which means he or
she spent just 200 to live in the hospital for almost a week, with meals
included. Some other people were willing to cooperate with the hospitals based
on the promise of free physical examinations, Beijing News reported. The report found that intermediary agents served as bridges between
the hospitals and fake patients. In some cases, the agents would pick up
the people from their homes and later arrange for vehicles to take them
back. The administration said it had told the provincial healthcare
authorities to sternly punish any wrongdoing to protect the security of
healthcare funds. The Communist Party of China's Anhui Commission for Discipline
Inspection and the Anhui Provincial Supervisory Commission announced on
Tuesday that a team of investigators had arrived in the county for
further investigation. Fraudulent healthcare insurance claims were also found in a public
hospital in Hefei, the provincial capital, by Xinhua News Agency in
2018. Leaders of the hospital were removed from their positions, while
eight medical personnel, including doctors and nurses, were banned from
practicing medicine for seven months. Two of them were also prohibited
indefinitely from entering the hospital.
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