HSE recovers €3m ‘ghost payments’ from doctors

Doctors who received ‘ghost payments’ for deceased medical card patients have refunded more than €3 million to the Health Service Executive (HSE).

The HSE continued to pay GPs capitation payments for medical card holders, after they had passed way.   In 2010, the total amount of ‘graveyard payments’ made to GPs was estimated to be in the region of €5 million.

This week, the HSE has confirmed that the amount of wrongly paid capitation payments recouped from GPs in respect of clients who had died was €3.1 million. That covered the period between 2005 and 2012.

The matter was raised by Galway City Councillor Pádraig Conneely (FG) at the latest Regional Health Forum meeting.

He said that GPs “must have known” the clients were dead but they continued to receive the capitation payments from the HSE for “patients who were in the graveyard”.

Cllr Conneely welcomed that €3 million was recouped but he wondered where the other €2 million was – he said he was certain that the figure for graveyard payments was €5 million.

The HSE said the problem arose due to the lack of a centralised IT system that adequately and in a timely manner “gathered information on deaths and remove eligibility”.

There was also an issue of underpayment of GPs due to delays in registering births of babies.

These issues have been addressed, the HSE said, and it has taken steps to address the legacy issues of over and under payments.