Report: Hospitals, doctors defrauding insurers

Hospitals and doctors are fraudulently claiming millions of euro from insurers for non-existent treatment of patients in their care.

The situation, which includes claims for “semi-private” support when a patient has been on a trolley, is revealed in an independent report commissioned by the Department of Health.

The document was published just a week after independent senator and cancer oncologist Prof John Crown revealed that St Vincent’s Hospital wrongly charged VHI €1m for drug-related claims more than a decade ago.