Authorities are sifting through data seized from Taiwanese hospitals to determine whether crimes were committed in the setting of drug prices.

Dozens of hospitals around Taiwan were simultaneously raided after prosecutors discovered possible criminal activity while analyzing hundreds of boxes of data from a local pharmaceutical company, The China Post said Friday.

The results could save billions of dollars for China and its citizens, the Post said.

Prosecutors and investigators are determining whether fraud and forgery were committed in the scheme in which hospitals, medical workers and drug suppliers allegedly inflated drug prices, then passed the cost along to patients and the Bureau of National Health Insurance, the newspaper said.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International