The Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced on the 7th that it had sent two chief ophthalmologists from an eye hospital in Gangnam, Seoul, to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office at the end of last month on charges including violation of the Special Act on Prevention of Insurance Fraud and the Medical Service Act.
[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Gyumin] The police have sent the heads of ophthalmology hospitals suspected of embezzling billions of won in insurance money under the pretext of eye surgery to prosecution.
The Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced on the 7th that at the end of last month, they sent two chief ophthalmologists of hospitals in Gangnam, Seoul, to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on charges of violating the Special Act on the Prevention of Insurance Fraud and the Medical Service Act.
According to the police, they are suspected of forging hospitalization records and issuing false admission and discharge certificates for 16,189 patients, enabling them to embezzle approximately 154 billion won in insurance money from 20 insurance companies.
These hospitals are known to specialize in cataract surgery and vision correction. Cataract surgery takes about 20 minutes and can be treated on an outpatient basis. However, since high-cost surgery fees are not covered for outpatient treatment, they embezzled insurance money by manipulating hospitalization records. If recognized as hospitalization, the limit for indemnity insurance payments increases to 50 million won per disease.
Police investigations revealed that a broker organization employed by these hospitals also recruited patients and embezzled about 20 billion won as referral fees from a portion of the medical expenses.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
