Health minister proposes ‘mystery patients’ to catch out unauthorised providers
Belgium’s Health minister wants to use undercover patients to catch unauthorised healthcare providers, De Tijd reports.
Frank Vandenbroucke of Flemish socialists Vooruit wants to do more to tackle illegal practices in the healthcare sector. His plans include allowing inspectors from the Federal Supervisory Commission, part of the Federal Public Service Health, to act as “mystery shoppers” against people suspected of providing healthcare services without authorisation.
In such cases, inspectors would be allowed to pose as patients while assuming a fictitious identity to uncover hard-to-prove illegal practices. They can then report these to the public prosecutor’s office.
"It is good that the few control bodies in our country are better armed. This will also increase trust in those who do provide good care"
“These actions must be proportionate. That means that the measures taken must always be appropriate and necessary,” Vandenbroucke told the Parliamentary Committee on Public Health.
His proposal also provides for a new system of administrative fines, so that if the public prosecutor’s office delays or dismisses a case, Public Health officials will be able to impose sanctions on unauthorised care providers.
Tom Goffin, professor of health law at Ghent University, sees some merit in the measures. “Healthcare providers have to meet a lot of quality requirements in our country. At the same time, it is not easy to eliminate the few who do not abide by the rules,” he told De Tijd.
“It is good that the few control bodies in our country are better armed. This will also increase trust in those who do provide good care.”
Green party Groen wants more safeguards to be put in place before the measure is implemented. “We must prevent the legal framework from eventually being used unintentionally to control, for example, informal care providers, such as informal carers who receive benefits,” MP Jeroen Van Lysebettens said.
Illustration © PHOTO SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
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