The Dutch healthcare authority NZA has made a police complaint against a healthcare group which it claims forged a letter to persuade insurance companies that billing for yoga and massages had been approved as psychiatric treatment.

The email sent by Vitalis was spotted by an outside contracting company brought in to process invoices which made inquiries about the email to the NZA. The NZA says parts of a genuine email had been mixed in with new texts to create the impression that the treatments had been approved and should, therefore, be paid.

Massage, yoga and alternative therapies are not considered part of a psychiatric treatment package by the NZA.

‘The fake e-mail suggested that the NZa had approved Vitalis’ treatments even though no approval has been given and the NZA has made it clear it would not mediate on behalf of Vitalis,’ the health authority said in a statement.

Vitalis hit the headlines earlier this year when a director told the Volkskrant he had found a way to have massage, yoga and other activities classified as psychiatric care. The email was probably sent to practitioners to reassure them that payment would be approved despite the criticism of the scheme at the time, the NZA said.