Hospitals overcharge through complicated billing

Many Belgian hospitals are overcharging health insurance funds, the Sudpresse papers report today. Mutualités Chrétiennes alone has recorded 8,000 cases in which hospitals have unduly invoiced them for thermometers, special dietary meals or inflated doctors’ fees. Mutualités Socialistes has also found that a large number of supplements were unfairly charged to patients directly. “This represents two percent of total invoices processed in 2012 – no fewer than 8,000 records out of 160,000 hospital bills of more than €275 – returned by our members last year,” said Mutualités Chrétiennes’ Jean Hermesse. In most cases, these charges consist of services or equipment that are already included in the bill. “This is cheating; it has now become standard practice for some hospitals,” added Hermesse. Brussels’ Edith Cavell hospital has had to pay back nearly €50,000 to Mutualités Chrétiennes. “A hospital bill is quite complicated to understand for patients; they often don’t see anything wrong. Suddenly, the ‘errors’ go unnoticed,” said Hervé Jammar, head of Mutualités Socialistes’ legal department.