Another Mediclinic whistleblower claims bills manipulated
Another former Mediclinic employee has accused the hospital group of manipulating patient bills for financial benefit.
The person – who spoke to News24 on condition of anonymity – shared correspondence that reflects that Mediclinic employees made billing changes to patients’ records.
This comes after a whistleblower alleged that, at one hospital, there had been multiple incidents in which the coding on the account of a patient who died in the emergency room had been altered to reflect an ICU death instead.
This is because the fixed fees associated with emergency room deaths are lower than ICU-related fees.
The second whistleblower confirmed to News24 that they had found evidence of a similar incident.
They say that after a patient died in the emergency unit at a particular hospital, they found that an ICU file had been opened for the patient.
When they queried why this was the case, the source was told that the emergency unit was a ‘cost centre’.
The employee also corroborated an allegation that Mediclinic employees manipulated accounts to prevent losses from alternative reimbursement model cases.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
