Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 May 2017
435. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 443 of 4 April 2017, the procedures in place to prevent the HSE from paying general practitioners for persons that are already deceased (details supplied). [21732/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs outlined to the Deputy in the HSE reply of 25 April, a number of channels exist through which the Primary Care Reimbursement Service (PCRS) receives notice of the death of a medical card or GP visit card holder. These include:
- Notification through the Death Event Publication Service (DEPS) via a monthly file;
- Notification through the local Community Health Offices;
- Notification through the National Medical Card Unit contact centre, where clients’ families provide information;
- Notification via letters/returned cards from clients families;
- Notification from Nursing Homes;
- Notification from GPs.
Payments to GPs in respect of services provided to persons under the GMS scheme are terminated once the notification of a person’s death is recorded. In circumstances where amounts have been paid to GPs for periods after the last day of the month in which a person has died, the PCRS makes appropriate adjustments to the monthly capitation payment made to GPs to balance any such overpayments.
Should the Deputy be aware of a specific instance where an overpayment has occurred in relation to a deceased patient, she would be welcome to submit such information to my Department or directly to the PCRS.
