Raid on Hamburg doctor suspected fraud

House search at Hamburg doctor: Physician is suspected of having filed false statements with the health insurance.

Hamburg. Pregnancy counseling for children and senior citizens over the age of 80? Apparently no problem for a Hamburg doctor in the view of the prosecutor with curious statements the statutory health insurance funds should have cheated to considerable sums.

The police have searched the private apartment and the practice rooms of a Hamburg doctor. The physician is said to have cheated on the health insurance with the help of false statements over several years. After months of investigation, the prosecutor's office had launched a corresponding house search on Wednesday.

800 kilometers for home visits, 22 hours working day
According to the prosecutor, the physician has used various methods to artificially increase his bills with the statutory health insurance. For example, the doctor calculated extremely frequently contraceptive consultations. Already in four-year-old girls, but also senior women up to 83 years, the doctor said, according to reports from „NDR info“ the health insurance companies a comprehensive pregnancy consultation into account. In addition, he has indicated an average of nearly 100 treatments for home visits per day, which requires normal working days of the doctor of about 22 hours. In individual cases, the doctor claims to have completed a distance of more than 800 kilometers for home visits and charged around 50 home visits at various locations on the corresponding days.

Billing fraud causes billions in damages
On other days, the physician has covered more than 450 kilometers according to the billing document and carried out more than 80 examinations at 20 different addresses. The Hamburg doctor stated in the statements that he often treated all family members of a household during his home visits. Whether the patients made common cause with the doctor, is so far unclear. Also to the exact amount of damage, the Hamburg prosecutor's office did not want to comment. From the possible fraud are loud „NDR info“ several statutory health insurance companies such as the Techniker Krankenkasse, the AOK Rheinland / Hamburg and the DAK affected. According to the statutory health insurance arise in the health sector through abuse and billing fraud annually billions in damages. In the coming weeks, the prosecution will review the confiscated documents and, if necessary, summarize them in a corresponding indictment. (fp, 11.11.2010)

Also read:
Wrong doctor practiced and is in court
Doctor refused help; Patient died
Doctor attacked by patient with frying pan

Picture credits: Daniel Rennen