Caregiver Falsified Work Hours by Carrying Around Detached Shoefrack Door

A court has ruled that authorities were justified in reclaiming nursing benefit payments from a caregiver who inflated her working hours by carrying an attendance-logging device around in her car.

The Seoul Administrative Court, specifically Administrative Division 5 presided over by Judge Lee Jung-won, recently ruled against a senior care facility that had filed a lawsuit against the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) seeking to cancel the order to recover long-term care benefit costs.

In November 2023, following an on-site inspection, the NHIS notified the facility that it had improperly claimed long-term care benefits and ordered the recovery of approximately 37.4 million won.

The issue arose because a caregiver identified as A, affiliated with the facility, collected benefit payments by claiming to have provided in-home care services between 2021 and 2023 when she actually had not.

Caregivers record their arrivals and departures by tapping their smartphones against tags installed in care recipients' homes. Investigations revealed that caregiver A detached the shoefrack door with the tag attached, loaded it into her car, and arbitrarily registered her shifts.

The facility to which caregiver A belonged filed an appeal against the NHIS, claiming that "the tag was only detached to record the end of the service time when going out with the care recipient, and work was not falsely registered."

However, the court ruled in favor of the NHIS, based on factors such as caregiver A having admitted in a confirmation statement submitted during the on-site inspection that she had inflated her working hours to claim costs.

The court also cited as a basis for its judgment the fact that many of the locations where caregiver A recorded the end of her shifts via the tag were near her own home.

Furthermore, pointing to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's notice on the standards for providing long-term care benefits, which stipulates that "in-home visit care must be provided at the recipient's home in principle, and this does not apply when accompanying them on outings, trips, or hobby activities," the court noted that it was difficult to view caregiver A's outings with the recipient as the provision of care services.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.