According to a report in Friday morning’s edition of the daily ‘De Tijd’, the case of a West Flemish home nurse and local councillor that has been arrested on suspicion of having defrauded the social security system is not an isolated incident. In its article ‘De Tijd’ writes that in around 40 other nurses, doctors, dentists and pharmacists were sanctioned for fraudulent practices during the first 9 months of this year.
Between 1 January and 30 September, Medical Evaluation and Inspection Service’s tribunals issued rulings in 44 cases.
In 39 of them, repayment was demanded and/or a fine imposed. A total of 4.8 million euro in undue payments was reclaimed and a further 4.5 million euro in fines imposed.
A wide range of healthcare professions
The offences were committed by a full spectrum of healthcare professions. While some overcharged by only a few thousand euro, others had overcharged by several hundred thousand euro. In many cases the individuals involved had been caught overcharging before.
25 of the cases were involved Dutch speakers. These amounted to a total of 2.5 million euro in unjustified claims and 2.3 million euro in fines. The 19 Francophone cases amounted to almost 4.5 million euro.
If efforts to recover the improperly claimed payments fail, the case is passed on to the Federal Finance Department. Its says that it has 193 cases involving convicted healthcare professionals pending amounting to a total of in excess of 20 million euro.
VRT News has also learned of a doctor that has been under investigation since 2019 for an alleged fraud amounting to 2 million euro. A detains is also being investigated for 600,000 euros’ worth of irregular billing.
Action had already been taken against the home nurse arrested earlier this week. In 2017 she received a hefty fine and an official report was filed.
Since 2017, the RIZIV’s supervisory body has launched three investigations into the home nurse arrest on Tuesday. The woman was elected to Houthulst Municipal Council for the far-right party Vlaams Belang since last year’s local elections.