'Payback' to Cancer Patients... Police Investigate 12 Medical Institutions

Refunding Cash After Inflated Treatment Charges
Health Ministry Launches Investigation and Requests Police Probe

The police are investigating a medical institution that conducted 'payback sales' by refunding a portion of treatment fees to cancer patients.

On July 15, the National Police Agency announced that it had launched an investigation into 12 hospitals and clinics suspected of violating the Medical Service Act in connection with these allegations. The investigation was initiated at the request of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and each case has been assigned to the dedicated investigation teams of the respective jurisdictions.

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Dividing the investigation targets by regional police agencies, there are five cases assigned to the Daegu Police Agency, three to Gwangju, two to Jeonnam, and one each to Seoul and Gyeonggi Northern Police Agency. By institution, the investigation includes six Korean medicine hospitals, five long-term care hospitals, and one clinic.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare recently established an administrative investigation team for abnormal and fake treatments to receive reports and conduct on-site investigations, after controversy arose over payback practices at some medical institutions. As of July 13, more than 50 reports have been received, and investigations were requested for institutions where the credibility of the reports was deemed high and a swift investigation was considered necessary.

These hospitals are suspected of more than simply refunding treatment fees. They allegedly used methods such as running non-covered (non-reimbursed) service packages, abusing actual-loss insurance, and providing cash or goods to patients. At Hospital A, it was reported that they offered non-covered packages based on the length of hospital stay, presenting them like hotel products, and had the medical staff provide care according to these packages, even refunding to actual-loss insurance subscribers an amount equal to the legal patient co-pay as a payback. At Hospital B, it was reported that they submitted false or inflated claims for patient treatments, then returned 20-40% of the paid amount in cash to patients, or ran a health supplement sales business concurrently, providing vouchers for health supplements as compensation.

A National Police Agency official stated, "We plan to respond strictly and to the end to any illegal acts that misappropriate insurance finances."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.