Two private health clinics in Vancouver are facing court action from BC’s Medical Services Commission if they continue illegally billing patients for services covered by medicare.
An audit started in January of last year has found the clinics operated by the Cambie Surgery Centre found more than 200 cases of illegal billing.
Commission Chair Tom Vincent says he will seek a court-ordered injunction, if the illegal billing doesn’t stop within 30 days.
“The auditors reviewed 468 samples of services provided by the clinics. 205 had services billed to a beneficiary or some other person contrary to the Medicare Protection Act.”
The allegations of extra billing date back nearly 6 years and the bills for services deemed violations totalled nearly half a million dollars.
However the Cambie Surgery Centre is vowing to fight any effort to stop what is being called “illegal billing.”
Doctor Brian Day says they have never hidden the fact they bill for services covered under medicare.
Day says the law they are accused of breaking is in fact “unlawful.”
“We will obviously challenge the injunction onthe basis the law that they have operated under is unconstitutional the main issue is patients are suffering on wait lists and the government and particularily the Medical Services Commission has done nothing to help those wait lists in fact the wait lists are rising.”
Day says his clinic and others who run private practices are challenging the law in court.
For his part BC’s Health minister is not saying if he plans to take quick action to make the private health clinics stop illegally billing patients in violation of the Canada health act.
Mike de Jong says he’s confident the Medical Services Commission will do what’s necessary to make the Cambie Surgeries Corporation and specialist referral clinic, both owned by Doctor Brian Day, comply with orders.
“That’s why we have legal provisions and legal enforcement provisions that will allow the Medical Services Commission to pursue that.”
The commission has given the clinics 30 days to comply, but the operators say they plan to take more legal action to fight today’s findings.
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