Welcome to the November-December issue of our Newsletter. Whereas the previous issue dealt with counter fraud management in Scotland, this newsletter focuses more particularly on EHFCN internal news. Read the updates about our Conference and General Assembly and see the latest activities and developments of the Network. Enjoy reading!
EHFCN has decided to redouble its efforts and to deliver important new services and campaigns. It has also decided to appoint Jim Gee, Director of Counter Fraud Services for Macintyre Hudson LLP and Chair of the UK's Centre for Counter Fraud Studies, as its advisor. Jim was the founding Director-General of the Network and the former CEO of the UK's NHS Counter Fraud Service.
“I am very pleased to announce that the Network has decided to appoint Jim Gee to advise us as we develop many new services and new campaigns over the coming months. Jim has always showed a real commitment to the Network, and to its purpose, helping member organisations to reduce the cost of healthcare fraud and thereby deliver better patient care for Europe's citizens. I am confident that together we can grow a bigger, better Network which meets the needs of healthcare organisations across Europe.”
“I am delighted to be appointed as an advisor to EHFCN. There is no time to lose. I shall be helping the Network to develop many important new services and taking the Network and its message out to healthcare organisations across Europe. Every Euro lost to fraud or corruption means that someone, somewhere is not getting the treatment that they need, that they are ill for longer, and in some cases that they simply die unnecessarily. It's really very simple – united in the Network we are stronger in protecting healthcare resources, and divided we are weaker. The Network's new services will provide practical help of benefit to every healthcare organisation.”
The timetable for rolling out the new services, which will include global healthcare fraud news, high level video comment, specialist research and counter fraud diagnostic tools will be announced before the end of November.
Jim Gee is Director of Counter Fraud Services for Macintyre Hudson LLP and Chair of the Centre for Counter Fraud Studies. During more than 25 years as a counter fraud specialist, he led the team which cleaned up one of the most corrupt local authorities in the UK - London Borough of Lambeth - in the late 1990s; he advised the House of Commons Social Security Select Committee on fraud and the Rt. Hon. Frank Field M.P. during his time as Minister of State for Welfare Reform; between 1998 and 2006 he was Director of Counter Fraud Services for the Department of Health and CEO of the NHS Counter Fraud Service; between 2004 and 2006 he was the founding Director-General of the European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption Network; and he has since worked as a senior advisor to the UK Attorney-General on the UK Government's Fraud Review as well as delivering counter fraud services to public bodies and private companies both in the UK and internationally.EHFCN was invited by the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts on Good Governance in Healthcare to assist and advise on matters of healthcare fraud and corruption with the objective to deliver recommendations to the European Health Committee (CDSP) for good governance in the sector.
The draft recommendation, which was jointly developed by the Committee of Experts and several organisations including EHFCN and Transparency International, was discussed and approved by the CDSP at their meeting on 13-15 October 2009.
The recommendation now has to be approved and adopted by the Committee of Ministers, which will hopefully happen in early 2010. The final recommendation, as approved by the CDSP, should be made available in approximately two weeks and will be posted on the EHFCN website.
