About thirty pharmacies are accused of having massively invoiced false antigen tests to Health Insurance, reveals RTL this Wednesday. The loss of the fraud is estimated at 53 million euros. A pharmacist alone allegedly embezzled 18 million euros.
“In nine out of ten cases, it is a pharmacy which claims to have distributed tests to a nurse, a doctor, a masseur-physiotherapist. The pharmacy will bill us for the tests, which it did not deliver to these health professionals, ”explains Thomas Fatôme, the director general of Health Insurance.
Fourteen Complaints
In total, 353 pharmacies are, or have been, concerned by a control procedure. 150 files were closed without further action and 169 pharmacies are still under investigation. As for the 34 establishments concerned by this new case, the services of the Cnam filed 14 criminal complaints. If found guilty, the professionals risk having to repay the embezzled money and incur a disqualification or even a prison sentence.
Fearing that such a case would degrade “the image of an entire profession”, several pharmacists’ unions have called for “the greatest firmness for its fraudsters”. At the same time, Health Insurance, which intends to fight more against fraud by health professionals, has already begun to look at caregivers, profession by profession.