A suburban Chicago doctor, John A. Greager II, 75, has been sentenced to six months in federal prison and fined $1 million for submitting fraudulent claims to Medicare and a private insurer. Greager owned and operated Cancer Therapy Associates SC, in Lombard, Ill. From 2015 to 2021, Greager caused fraudulent claims to be submitted to Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois falsely stating that mole-removal procedures had been provided to patients on multiple dates. In actuality, Greager knew that those services were not provided as billed. Greager had removed multiple moles on a single date, but the procedures were billed as though they were removed on separate dates to maximize reimbursement from Medicare and BCBS. Greager admitted that he knew insurers paid more for moles removed on separate dates than multiple moles on a single date. Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield ultimately paid Greager approximately $1.7 million as a result of his scheme.
To conceal his fraudulent conduct, Greager stored moles onsite at his office and delayed sending them for pathology testing. As a result, the pathology reports made it appear as though Greager had removed the moles on separate dates. Greager’s conduct delayed critical testing on moles that he removed for serious illnesses, including cancer. Greager also created fake patient charts, including pre-operative and post-operative notes that indicated he performed mole-removal procedures on dates when he was not in Illinois. Medicare conducted an audit of Greager’s patient charts, prompting Greager to instruct his staff to create false records to hide the fact that he committed healthcare fraud.
