DHB seeking $3m from fraud GP

Auckland District Health Board (ADHB) is seeking about $3 million from a GP who was this week sentenced on fraud charges after he falsified patient records.

Hongsheng Kong, 43, was sentenced to 12 months' home detention and 400 hours' community work after admitting 16 fraud charges five weeks into an Auckland District Court trial relating to events between August 2004 and May 2007.

Kong, who practised in suburban Panmure, southeast of downtown Auckland, admitted a variety of fraudulent activities which resulted in him receiving government funding he was not entitled to.

It was said during sentencing on Tuesday that there was civil action pending from ADHB involving amounts greater than the $183,135 he paid back which related to his criminal charges.

ADHB chief planning and funding officer Dr Denis Jury confirmed the civil action had been filed but had been stayed while the criminal action proceeded.

"The amount currently sought by ADHB is approximately $3 million (including interest and costs)," Dr Jury said.

He said the civil action would now be resumed, "although Dr Kong's counsel indicated to the Court during the sentencing hearing that Dr Kong is committed to repaying all money that he has wrongly received and that he had instructions to settle the civil proceeding".

Kong faced 21 charges of fraud and one of attempting to obstruct the course of justice when his criminal trial began.

Judge Emma Aitken eventually threw out the charge of attempting to obstruct justice and the Crown withdrew five charges after Kong admitted the 16 he was sentenced on today.

They included 10 charges of altering patient notes and six charges related to submitting fraudulent claims.

The prosecution said there were at least 150 days when Kong fraudulently changed patient notes, and an estimated total of 3800 fraudulent transactions at his practice.

Among Kong's actions were to make false entries which indicated patients had visited his practice when they had not. In some cases he entered false clinical notes.

Judge Aitken said some of the patients were not in New Zealand when the entries were made, and others had not seen him for more than three years.

In some cases Kong changed the ethnicity of his patients on their records.

She said all his actions had fraudulently inflating the number of patients on his register, making him appear entitled to extra funding.

Judge Aitken said it was with some difficulty that she decided someone whose offending was "sophisticated, premeditated and deliberate" should not serve a jail term.

But she said he also faced several other negative consequences, including the civil action, a health disciplinary action and negative publicity.

"You have been publicly named, your photo has been in the paper, and everybody who knows you and all your patients are aware of criminal proceedings," she said.

"I'm sure will be named and rightly shamed in public."

- NZPA