OSAKA -- Three executives of the Yasuda Hospital group were served fresh warrants Sept. 9 for swindling the government out of 270 million yen in medical insurance by bloating staff figures at one of three hospitals under its umbrella.
Yasuda Hospital Director Mototaka Yasuda, 77, Chief Secretary Saburo Konishi, 67, and Head Nurse Emiko Omura, 49, had already been served two arrest warrants each since July for illegally claiming some 260 million yen in medical bills by falsifying medical treatment records at Yasuda Hospital. According to the Osaka Prefectural Police, the three submitted a false report to the Osaka Prefectural Government in October 1994 in which they claimed the ratio of inpatients to nurses at Osaka Ensai Hospital's general ward, which is equipped with 124 beds, was four to one.
Between January 1995 and February 1997, they allegedly claimed a total of 270 million yen from the insurance scheme as bills for treating inpatients on welfare programs, police said. Police believe that several tens of millions of yen more may have been falsely paid to the hospital in compensation for medical costs incurred by inpatients covered by the national health insurance system.
Besides Osaka Ensai Hospital, Osaka Prefectural Police will pursue the suspected fraud case at Yamatogawa Hospital, another member hospital of the Yasuda group located in Osaka's Kashiwabara Ward.