Chain pharmacies investigated for healthcare insurance fraud

The National Healthcare Security Administration has dispatched inspection teams to pharmacies in Hunan and Henan provinces following media reports that some pharmacies had swapped cosmetics, health supplements and daily necessities for drugs in healthcare insurance billing.

Inspection teams were deployed on Wednesday to Huaihua, Hengyang, Zhuzhou and Shaoyang in Hunan province, and Zhengzhou in Henan province, and have arrived at all pharmacies involved.

The alleged healthcare insurance fraud was first revealed in a news report released by chinanews.com.cn on Tuesday. The report stated that about a dozen out of 30 chain pharmacies were found engaged in irregular practices, such as billing non-medical items as healthcare insurance-covered medications. Pharmacy staff reportedly used sophisticated methods to bypass surveillance cameras and falsify prescriptions to complete the transactions.

Local healthcare security authorities in Hunan and Henan provinces have announced investigations into the cases this week.