According to media reports, some people in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, have colluded with doctors to forge clinical records in order to fraudulently claim medical insurance.

The local medical supervision and management authorities launched an investigation after the Shenzhen Health and Family Planning Commission announced it had suspended three doctors from practicing medicine because they were involved in forging clinical records with the aim of defrauding the basic medical insurance system.

Such an illegal practice is not unique to Shenzhen. In some areas, local drugstores not only sell medicines but also groceries, which are billed as medicines, and the majority of the cost is reimbursed by the basic medical insurance.

Such fraudulent practices must be stopped. To cut the hidden interest chain of forging medical records and prescriptions, defrauding medical insurance and selling medicines in an underground market, we should start by managing the source.

Policymakers must improve the design of basic medical insurance system.