– On behalf of the people of North Jutland, I am both resentful, angry and upset that in a trust-based health care system we end up in a situation where there is someone who, in all probability and with justified suspicion, has cheated on the scales. It doesn’t belong anywhere.
That’s what regional council chairman Mads Duedahl says to Nordjyske in the wake of the region reporting several clinics in the Alles Lægehus chain to the police on Wednesday.
The police report comes after DR’s Kontant was able to reveal last week that Alles Lægehus apparently charged the region in several cases for additional services that had not been provided.
Since then, the region’s review of data has strengthened the suspicion of fraud, and it is against this background that the region is now taking the step and reporting several of the clinics in the Alles Lægehus chain to the police.
– I am shocked, because we have a healthcare system that is based on the fact that we trust that healthcare personnel do what is best for the citizens rather than thinking in terms of kroner and øre, says the chairman of the regional council.
Several clinics in the All Lægehus chain in North Jutland have been reported to the police by Region North Jutland. It is unclear which of the 10 clinics are involved.
Photo: Henrik Bo
He will not say how many clinics in the chain have been reported to the police – or which ones.
– I can’t get into that. But I can say that it is about several, but not all.
Do you suspect other clinics, and could there be more police reports?
– Those clinics where we do not have a reasoned suspicion, we will still carry out a check and assess whether there is a basis for looking at them with the same eyes as those we have reported to the police. But it is important to say that it is far from certain that all clinics in Alles Lægehus can be linked to fraud, says Mads Duedahl.
A few days ago, Jens Tilma, main training doctor in general medicine, raised criticism of Mads Duedahl in a debate post, where he accused the chairman of the regional council of having known about the problems for a year without reacting.
– It is correct that we have had our sights set on Alles Lægehus in the past, because there are several people who have approached Alles Lægehus, and that the scales may have been cheated. And we have regretfully acted on that. And we have held a meeting with the person who contacted me and a report has been written. At that meeting, serious allegations were made against Alles Lægehus, and we took that very seriously and launched an investigation. But unfortunately, there was not sufficient grounds to file a case against Alles Lægehus, because when you open a police case, you must have a well-founded suspicion, says Mads Duedahl.
According to him, it is not least the revelations in DR’s Kontant that have pushed the case forward.
– They have unearthed some people who want to come forward and say that what has been assessed for has not been done. When we looked into it, there wasn’t enough for us to open a case. It is there now, says the chairman of the regional council.
He states that after the DR broadcast, there are several people who have contacted the region directly.
– It has given us new information and new knowledge, notes Mads Duedahl.
Do you have any suspicion or presumption that cheating may be more widespread at other medical clinics in North Jutland than just those at Alles Lægehus, which you have now reported to the police?
– I have nothing to base that on. But if people are interested in seeing if their doctor has assessed for something they have not been treated for, then you can always go to sundhed.dk and look at your medical record and see if benefits have been paid for something , for which you have not been treated. If there is, you can always turn to the region, and then we will take it further, says Mads Duedahl.
He is pleased that Minister of Health Sophie Løhde (V) has signaled a willingness to give the regions better opportunities to investigate and control it more closely when and if accusations are made against a practice. We haven’t been able to do that so far – but we can now.
Alles Lægehus states in an email to DR that the healthcare group will cooperate with the authorities to get the matter clarified.
– Alles Lægehus became aware at the end of 2023 that errors had previously occurred in the registration of supplementary services in some of our medical centres. We are of course very sorry about that, because this kind of thing must not take place, writes the group.
2024-03-06 17:34:28
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