The AOP is seeking an urgent meeting with the Counter Fraud Services Agency over post-payment verification visits after members complained they were being misused.
The AOP is seeking an urgent meeting with the Counter Fraud Services Agency over post-payment verification visits after members complained they were being misused.
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| Carswell: may take action |
Practitioners have claimed appointments with local officials have led to optometrists having their clinical decisions questioned, with some visits leading to payments seemingly being withheld for 'spurious reasons'.
The verification procedure, brought in to prevent fraudulent activity against the Health Service, 'is being widely abused' according to those practitioners who have complained to the Association, and it is preparing to seek legal redress if
necessary.
It appears that local officials are failing to distinguish the difference between 'verifying the validity of NHS claims and assessing clinical work as part of a clinical governance process' the Association's newsletter Blink has stated.
'Our members have always supported the work of the Counter Fraud Agency,' AOP deputy chief executive Richard Carswell said, 'and we were among the first to sign up to their work. However, some local officials seem to be going way beyond what is reasonable.'
He commented that it would be 'unacceptable' for an administrator to override the clinical judgment of an optometrist. 'Additionally, optometric advisers have to be careful not to do the same,' he said, 'because we also have instances where the optometric adviser considers clinical practices that differ from his own as, apparently, being questionable.'
The AOP reports that in some cases local payment agencies have been persuaded to see sense, but with others it may become a matter for the Association's lawyers.
A spokesperson for the NHS Counter Fraud Service said: 'The NHS Counter Fraud Service is looking into the issues that have been raised by the AOP. Until we have been able to ascertain the facts around the issues relating to PPV visits, it would be inappropriate to make further comment.'
david.challinor@rbi.co.uk
