Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. Medical card processing was centralised at the Primary Care Reimbursement Service, PCRS, office from July 2011. This central processing is single national governance, with a central office location to replace the 100 locations used in the past. This national project provides for an enhanced service delivery to clients and a consistent and equitable national assessment process. The system now facilitates standardised, homogeneous and equitable assessment of all applications, irrespective of the origin or nature of the application.

Since centralisation, the HSE has in place a system for the processing of death information based on the death event publication service, DEPS, operated by the General Register Office. Under the systems applying, the HSE obtains a file of deaths each week which is uploaded to the medical card database. While there may be a delay in recording a death with the General Register Office, amounts paid to GPs after the date of death are recouped from them.

It is important to note that the HSE does not rely solely on the death event publication service. One of the enhancements to the processes introduced by the HSE was an agreement with GPs that allows them to manage their medical card panel more proactively. In this regard, they can confirm that their medical card panels are, to the best of their knowledge, correct on a quarterly basis. In addition, they can remove a medical card holder from their panel where they are satisfied that the individual has passed away or is no longer resident in Ireland. Individuals can also contact the HSE directly to notify it of the death of a family member and the HSE's own staff monitor these matters.

Legislation which came into effect in March 2013 - the Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Act 2013 - allows the sharing of data between the Revenue Commissioners, the Department of Social Protection and the HSE. The introduction of these additional controls will strengthen the risk management framework for schemes and provide additional support. Overall, the centralisation of the medical card system and the new measures, involving verification by GPs of their medical card lists every three months and the removal of deceased individuals from panels, ensures payments are not being made to GPs for people who are deceased or no longer eligible due to their having emigrated.