It has emerged that two separate consultancy reports that were commissioned into looking at how savings could be made in the medical card scheme cost the Irish taxpayer around €200,000.  Figures released under FOI show that Accenture consultants were paid €158,055 in 2012 to conduct a review of medical card scheme spending.

In addition, PriceWaterhouse Coopers were paid €35,670 in the same year to review expenditure on the medical card scheme. Published FOI statistics  related to consultancy expenditure by the HSE in 2012 which is the last full year for which figures are currently available to the public, indicated that in addition to being paid for its medical card review, PwC was paid around €350,000 for ‘development and delivery of Supportstat and for tax advice to the health executive.
Other significant payments on consultancies in 2012 included:

* €2.6 million to IBM Ireland for ‘ICT PPARS (staff payroll system) support’.

* €526,000 to Powerhealth Solutions for a patient costing study.

* €113,000 to the College of Anaesthetists for developing a strategy for anaesthesia services in Ireland.

* €202,600 to Compupac IT solutions for IT work.

* €230,600 to KPMG for a fraud investigation and tax consultancy work.

* €194,000 to Mazars for IT audits.

* €282,000 to Mercer Ireland for pension consultancy work.

* €206,000 to PA Consulting for work on HSE finance reform and a review of orthodontic/oral surgery services.

* €136,000 to the Royal College of Physicians for advice on acute medicine services and a radiology project.