Health Minister Meredith Hammat says she was misinformed over Kalgoorlie Hospital billing claims

Health Minister Meredith Hammat insists she was misinformed over claims Kalgoorlie Hospital and a private medical imaging provider had been incorrectly billing for services. Ms Hammat had told Parliament in May there were “no concerns” about billing at the hospital and that she’d been advised there was “nothing irregular”. But last weekend, following questions put to her by The West Australian, she confirmed the matter had now been referred to the State’s corruption watchdog. “At the end of last week, we received some additional information from The West Australian, which I hadn’t seen before and the Director General hadn’t been aware of before either,” she told reporters on Tuesday. “There was a combination of things that were provided. They weren’t all internal government emails, but we want to be very clear about what’s happening and we want to make sure, for the avoidance of any doubt, that it is an appropriate system that’s in place.” Internal memos between Apex imaging staff raised concerns that Medicare was being billed for ineligible services as early as 2022, and that radiologists could be held personally liable. A WA Country Health Service document dated June 3, after The West Australian began asking questions of WA Health, warned employees to avoid charging for radiologist consultations that hadn’t occurred, and against double billing for CT scans. “Please advise all staff that it is their responsibility to ensure correct examination codes are entered into the system,” the email said. Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said he was concerned the Minister and Department bosses appeared to be caught unaware. “I am really concerned, and Health Minister Meredith Hammett has a lot of explaining to do,” he said. “I hope for once a minister in this Labor government can try being transparent. “Just tell us the truth. Tell us the truth. What do you know? When did you know it?” Ms Hammat wouldn’t say on Tuesday if she thought the Health Department’s original investigation was inadequate. “The department assured me they’d done an investigation .. my office received additional information, shared that with the department. They then came to a different view,” she said. The bureaucrat who conducted the original investigation is now on leave, but Ms Hammat said they had not been stood down. She couldn’t say whether the Corruption and Crime Commission was investigating, and couldn’t guarantee there was no double billing still occuring. “This is a matter that requires investigation. The previous assurances that I’ve received is that there are no immediate causes for concern,” Ms Hammat said. “The advice that we have is that they will have a closer look at the information that we’ve provided, but I’m not going to give a running commentary about the work of the CCC.” Apex Radiology is a subsidiary of Integral Diagnostics, which operates more than 150 clinics across Australia and New Zealand, including 14 in WA. Ms Hammat dismissed questions about whether a wider investigation was needed. “I’ve got no reason, there’s nothing that’s been flagged with me that suggests there’s any concerns with practices elsewhere,” she said.