# patient abuse

How ‘Free’ Psychiatric Beds Became a Lucrative Fraud: Inside China’s Private Mental‑health Market

An undercover probe by New Beijing News uncovered systematic insurance fraud and abuse at private psychiatric hospitals in Hubei, where facilities recruit patients with promises of free care, fabricate diagnoses and billable treatments, and sometimes coerce or harm inpatients. The practices—paired with “fake discharge” tactics to evade audits—have siphoned public medical insurance funds and left vulnerable patients mistreated and trapped.