Dusseldorf Three operators of a Hamburg test center are said to have used patient data from a clinic to bill for corona tests that never took place. The potential damage: more than 130,000 euros.
A man in Stuttgart is said to have received a high six-digit amount for tests that were not carried out. He wanted to open 17 more test stations, but the public prosecutor’s office was able to prevent that.
A bus driver from Essen had more than one million euros paid out for corona tests and vaccinations – with eleven alleged corona test centers that never existed. In March, the Essen jury sentenced her to three years and three months in prison.
Nationwide, the authorities have initiated proceedings in at least 642 cases for suspected billing fraud with corona tests. This is the result of a nationwide survey by the Handelsblatt among public prosecutors and state criminal investigation offices (LKA).
The total number is likely to be significantly higher. Many authorities do not statistically record fraud at corona test centers. Four offices estimate the number of procedures in their federal state to be “in the two-digit range”. Only ten cases can be assumed there.
According to many public prosecutor’s offices, the investigation is “still in its infancy”. Charges or even judgments like those against the Essen bus driver are the exception.
High number of unreported cases
In just five proceedings in Bochum, Offenburg, Freiburg and Mannheim, the alleged damage amounts to 49.5 million euros. The Berlin state government expects a further 24 million euros in damage from fraud at corona test centers. Damages in the millions are also estimated in Duisburg, Heilbronn and Osnabrück.
The Germany-wide economic damage caused by test fraud cannot be quantified. Since the amount of damage is the subject of ongoing investigations in most cases, many public prosecutors do not give any figures. Jochen Sindberg, head of the department for fraud in the health care system at the Berlin police, says: “Amounts of damage are usually estimated very cautiously, and that should also be assumed here.”
Most investigations into suspected billing fraud at corona test centers have been initiated in Berlin. The capital city LKA reports 347 cases – more than half of the nationwide known procedures.
“In Berlin, test stations have sprung up like mushrooms in dubious places,” says CDU member of the Bundestag Tino Sorge, adding: “Politicians should have listened carefully.” Fraud expert Jochen Sindberg from the Berlin police, on the other hand, sees “no specific Berlin problem “.
According to the LKA, the number of procedures in Baden-Württemberg is three digits. Uwe Lahl, head of the office for pandemic management at the Ministry of Health, assumes that there are many unreported cases in large cities. Above all, he is concerned that “half-witted operators right down to the criminal milieu” operate test stations.
The state blindly paid for services not rendered
In Bavaria, investigations into suspected test fraud have been initiated in 60 cases, as the Ministry of Justice told the Handelsblatt. So far there has been no indictment.
“Business criminal proceedings are complex and time-consuming to investigate,” explains Matthias Held, senior public prosecutor at the Bavarian Central Office for Combating Fraud and Corruption in the Healthcare System. “We want to do it right.” Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) is outraged that the alleged perpetrators have chosen a field “in which human health is at stake. It’s a scandal when people cheat here.”
The test stations can charge the federal government 11.50 euros per quick test carried out. The Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV) of the federal states are responsible for the control. Each statement submitted there is checked for plausibility. They are to check one percent of the statements in detail every month on a random basis. Each federal state decides for itself exactly how these tests are carried out.
The regulations for the exam have been in effect since July 2021. The first test centers have been in operation since 2020. After journalists uncovered the first cases of fraud in accounts from corona test stations in May 2021, the control mechanisms were tightened. The LKA in Stuttgart reports that it was not even compared beforehand how many tests were actually used and later billed: “The perpetrators were able to bill the tests in any number.”
The test centers could bill the federal government for 11.50 euros for each corona test.
(Photo: dpa)
The CDU politician, Sorge, calls it “a tragedy when money has been paid without checking”. After the first “crude billing of some test centers”, the controls should have been significantly tightened “so as not to blindly pay money for services not provided”. Worry demands even more control. It is “obvious that these samples are not enough”.
Investigators often find out about entrepreneurs because banks report suspected money laundering. Again and again, information from citizens leads to public prosecutors initiating proceedings. Several authorities report that people have been emailed a negative result while they were waiting in line at the testing station. Here, the perpetrators simply used the login data to create a fake test result – with a subsequent fake invoice.
Gold rush mood hailed
Overall, however, abnormalities rarely occur and can often be clarified quickly, according to the Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. Some abnormalities are simply input errors. The KV Lower Saxony states: “Most providers of test centers do their job properly.”
The specialist lawyer for criminal law Benjamin Grunst also has this impression. He is defending some test center operators accused of billing fraud. “All procedures have been discontinued so far,” says Grunst. For example, because irregularities are due to a problem with the billing software – and not to intentional fraud.
Grunst’s colleague Julius Frenger represents around 20 operators of test centers nationwide who are accused of billing fraud. There are no charges in any of the proceedings. The operators have different backgrounds, says Frenger: “There are also students who thought: Let’s do something different.”
In Baden-Württemberg, test stations currently have to expect more frequent controls. In February, the country commissioned an external service provider to relieve local authorities. During the unannounced checks, hygiene, the correct execution of the tests and the handling of personal data are checked in particular.
There is no nationwide uniform procedure for on-site inspections of test stations. The health authorities are responsible for checking that the test has been carried out correctly and hygiene. In some federal states, the state office for social services, occupational safety, trade inspectorates and customs also carry out checks.
Lawyer Frenger criticizes that many investigations take a long time, although they are ultimately closed. An initial suspicion often leads to the fact that the KV no longer pays out any money. For half a year “everything is on hold”. Test centers are left with their liabilities and “can no longer pay their employees,” says Frenger. His advice: In the case of small irregularities, proceedings should be terminated more quickly.
Public prosecutors point out that some operators of test centers acted with high criminal energy. Word got around quickly that money could be made quickly with it, confirms Uwe Lahl, head of the office for pandemic management at the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Health.
In view of the closures of test centers and convictions, the Berlin police officer Sindberg believes “that we have now spoiled the gold rush mood of the perpetrators”. Uwe Lahl advocates putting corona tests “in professional hands” and ending “lay testing”. That would reduce abuse and save a lot of money.
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