NIHB billings raised as concern with optometrist

Newly-released documents show that a Saskatchewan optometrist’s billings to the Non-Insured Health Benefits program raised concerns for Health Canada. The March 2012 report describes the apparent difficulties that Health Canada staff experienced when they tried to look deeper into allegations about the unidentified optometrist’s billings. The report makes recommendations for Health Canada’s regional staff who work on the NIHB program. Health Canada has come up with a plan to address the issue of apparent shortcomings among NIHB staff in the province although no details have been released. The optometrist case is just the latest across the country where there have been other allegations of misuse of federal funding for Aboriginal health care. The police have been involved in investigating for incidents and the Canada Revenue Agency is involved in one case.