China's National Health Commission has initiated investigations into suspected medical insurance fraud at several psychiatric hospitals in Hubei province in central China.
The NHC said that it has initiated supervision and investigation of mental health hospitals in the cities of Xiangyang and Yichang, reported the newspaper China Daily, quoting the Commission. These hospitals are accused of admitting patients without mental illnesses but reporting them as mentally ill, defrauding medical insurance funds and infringing on patients' rights.
An official team will supervise and guide local authorities in conducting investigations and handling violations in accordance with laws and regulations.
The Commission also urged health authorities nationwide to strengthen oversight of psychiatric hospitals and related departments at all levels, standardize medical services, and effectively safeguard patients' rights and public health.
The National Healthcare Security ?Administration has also said that all designated mental health institutions should strengthen management and eliminate the illegal or non-compliant use of insurance funds.
It said provincial departments should use the problems recently exposed by the media at mental health institutions in Hubei province, and the ?results of other inspections, as examples to educate institutions.
Some media reports have also said that very often hospital staff—including nursing workers and security guards with no psychiatric history—were diagnosed as “mental patients” to inflate patient numbers. To evade rules limiting hospitalisation duration, a provincial hospital frequently staged “fake discharges”, only to readmit the same patients shortly afterward.