WorkCover Patients Being Turned Into ‘Unpoliced Pots of Gold’

Adele Ferguson reveals how our government health schemes are being exploited in podiatry with 'bogus billing' and 'fake referrals' turning vulnerable WorkCover patients and veterans into 'unpoliced pots of gold'.

Australia's workers compensation and veterans health schemes are designed to support those injured in the line of work or service. But Adele Ferguson's investigation for ABC 7.30, broadcast in October 2023, revealed how these schemes had become targets for exploitation — with podiatrists and other practitioners billing for services never rendered, and referring patients to unnecessary treatments to generate income.

The investigation drew on whistleblowers from within the health sector, internal documents, and interviews with patients who had been subjected to unnecessary procedures. It found that the oversight mechanisms designed to detect fraud were inadequate, and that the schemes' structure created perverse incentives for over-servicing.

Veterans — among the most vulnerable patients in the system — were particularly exposed. Their entitlements to health care, designed to recognise their service and sacrifice, had become a target for practitioners who saw them as a reliable source of income with minimal scrutiny.

The investigation prompted calls for stronger oversight of health providers billing government schemes, and for better protections for patients who may not be in a position to question the care they are receiving.

Ferguson's reporting on the exploitation of government health schemes was part of a broader body of work examining how public money was being misused across the health sector — from Medicare rorts to workers compensation fraud.