22 October 2004
A new centre of excellence is to be created next year to boost the fight against health care fraud and corruption across Europe.
Delegates at the first European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption Conference in London on October 19 signed up to a declaration committing themselves to common standards and greater partnership working.
A European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption Office is to be established. It will circulate information and examples of best practice to partner organisations, as well as researching new ways of minimising health care fraud.
It is estimated that e30bn-e100bn is lost to health care fraud across the EU each year.
Research conducted by the NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service (CFSMS) found that Europe trails the US, Canada and Australia in tackling fraud.
Some EU states do not have a dedicated anti-fraud office, while others do not acknowledge there is a problem.
Jim Gee, chief executive of the CFSMS, said the increased freedom of movement across the continent translated into an increased risk of fraud and corruption.
Health minister Lord Warner said: 'Anti-fraud staff from throughout Europe will also have opportunities to pick up new ways of working, which they will be able to develop in their home states.
'The creation of the EHFCO is the next step in this important movement to cut Europe's health care fraud and corruption. It will not only ensure that systems are in place across Europe to prevent it, but that legal sanctions are applied against criminals who slip through the net.'
It is intended that the new office will be up and running by October 2005. A CFSMS spokesman told Public Finance that it was likely to be paid for from a mixture of public and private sponsorship.
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