00:00These are documents from the Department's Compliance Division that was overseeing that
00:06massive rollout of COVID testing we had during the pandemic. And they show some concerns
00:12about something called co-claiming. So, we would all remember going and getting that
00:15text message to say you're COVID negative or positive, but sometimes tests were also
00:20being tested for RSV and flu, which is really not what those drive-through and pop-up clinics
00:25were designed for, and consequently Medicare was getting extra billings. They also show
00:30concerns about referrals, without valid referrals to Medicare, and some inappropriate billing.
00:36So, there was these state-funded drive-through clinics that were joint-funded by the Federal
00:41Government, but at times Medicare was being billed instead, which meant there was a cost
00:46shift to the full Federal Government. Now, the clinics say, well at times the State Government
00:51simply wouldn't pay, so we had to bill Medicare. So, the documents we received show the Department
00:57got 47 tip-offs, which doesn't sound like a lot, but considering it's the sort of dry
01:02world of pathology, you have to kind of put that in context. The Department says to us
01:06that's 1% of the tips they got overall, but experts say that really should have been enough
01:11to send alarm bells ringing that something was going on. And obviously the Health Department
01:15had a big job to do at this time, but what the documents indicate is in response to some
01:19of these concerns, they sent warning letters to companies involved, which were a good proportion
01:25of the industry by the looks of it. Now, the Department has told us that that wasn't the
01:30extent of its compliance operations, but didn't elaborate any further on what it did, but
01:35it did say its approach to compliance is something that it's continuing to look at.
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