Source: United States Department of Justice News
CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago doctor who specialized in removing moles to screen for cancer was charged today in federal court with submitting fraudulent claims for reimbursement to Medicare and a private insurer.
JOHN A. GREAGER II owned and operated Cancer Therapy Associates S.C., in Lombard, Ill. From 2015 to 2021, Greager fraudulently obtained approximately $4.1 million from Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois by submitting fraudulent claims that falsely represented that certain health care services, including mole removal procedures, had been provided to patients, according to a criminal information filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Greager knew that those services were not provided as represented on the claims and, at times, were medically unnecessary, the information states. The information also alleges that Greager removed more moles from patients than was medically necessary, and then dictated notes and provided paperwork to employees to submit fraudulent claims for reimbursement for those medical procedures.
The information charges Greager, 74, of Hinsdale, Ill., with one count of health care fraud. Arraignment in federal court has not yet been scheduled.
The charge was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI; Mario Pinto, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General; Irene Lindow, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General in Chicago; and Amy K. Parker, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Office of the Inspector General. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jared Hasten and Virginia Hancock.
The public is reminded that an information is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Health care fraud is punishable by a maximum sentence of ten years in federal prison. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.