Six clinics barred from making claims on behalf of patients following severe financial non-compliance
The Life Family Clinic branch located at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 (left) and the Loh & Loh Clinic & Surgery branch located at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10. (Photos: Life Family Clinic, Google/Loh & Loh Clinic & Surgery)
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SINGAPORE: Six clinics will have their Medisave and Medishield Life accreditation revoked and their participation in the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) terminated due to severe financial non-compliances.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Thursday (Jul 18) it will terminate the clinics’ participation in MOH’s financing schemes on Jul 24, making them ineligible to make claims on behalf of patients under the CHAS, MediSave and MediShield Life schemes.
The six clinics are two branches of Life Family Clinic, located at 713 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 and 50A Choa Chu Kang Loop; two branches of Loh & Loh Clinic & Surgery, located at 501 West Coast Drive and 531 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10; and two Loh & Loh Dental Surgery clinics, located at 501 West Coast Drive and 531 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10.
“MOH has uncovered multiple severe non-compliances in respect of Home Recovery Programme and Swab and Send Home claims made by Life Family Clinic, such as claims for house visits that did not take place, and claims for patients who were not COVID-19 positive,” said the Health Ministry.
It added that it “detected severe non-compliances in respect of CHAS claims from Loh & Loh Clinic & Surgery and Loh & Loh Dental Surgery, such as claims for treatments not administered at the branch they were claimed at, and tampering of patients’ addresses in the invoices”.
Both Loh & Loh Clinic & Surgery clinics and the Life Family Clinic located at 50A Choa Chu Kang Loop will also have their Healthier SG participation terminated on Jul 24.
The clinics will no longer provide relevant benefits to Healthier SG enrollees under their care, and will not be allowed to enrol new residents.
The other three clinics are not Healthier SG clinics.
DOCTORS' MEDISAVE, MEDISHIELD LIFE ACCREDITATIONS REVOKED
MOH said it will also revoke the MediSave and MediShield Life accreditations of Life Family Clinics’ Dr Lim Kim Show and Loh & Loh Clinic & Surgery’s Dr Moses Loh Jing Loong, as the non-compliant claims were made by them as their respective clinics’ key office holders.
From Jul 24, treatments and procedures performed by Dr Lim and Dr Loh will no longer be eligible for CHAS, MediSave and MediShield Life claims. However, they may continue to treat patients as they remain registered with the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) and their practising certifications issued by SMC remain valid.
“MOH has requested that Dr Lim and Dr Loh inform all affected patients to ensure continuity of care. Affected patients may wish to visit other nearby CHAS-accredited or MediSave-accredited clinics instead,” said the Health Ministry.
Affected Healthier SG enrollees will be notified that the clinics have offboarded from Healthier SG. MOH advised them to change their enrolments to other Healthier SG clinics to continue receiving Healthier SG benefits. They can do so via the HealthHub app or by approaching a nearby Healthier SG enrolment station.
“Affected enrollees are assured that their newly enrolled Healthier SG clinics will continue to have access to their health plans and medical information. CHAS patients and Healthier SG enrollees of the terminated clinics may refer to the CHAS website and the Healthier SG website for alternative clinics in the vicinity,” said MOH.
The ministry said it takes a serious view of breaches of CHAS guidelines and will not hesitate to act where a non-compliance is uncovered.
“In the case of Dr Lim and Dr Loh, we are conducting further investigations which may warrant referral of their cases to the relevant regulatory bodies,” said MOH, reminding all healthcare professionals to uphold a high standard of professionalism and adhere to the ethical codes and ethical guidelines of SMC and the Singapore Dental Council.
MOH also encouraged patients to actively engage their doctors and dentists if they have any queries on their treatment or bills.
CHAS, Pioneer Generation and Merdeka Generation cardholders who wish to check the CHAS subsidies that clinics have claimed for them can do so by logging into the “MY CHAS” module on the CHAS website, or by calling the CHAS hotline
Suspicious or unusual CHAS or MediSave claims can be reported to MOH via its website.
