Hinsdale, Ill.-based physician John Greager, MD, has been sentenced to 6 months in prison and fined $1 million for submitting fraudulent claims to Medicare and a private payer.
From 2015 to 2021, Dr. Greager submitted false claims to Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois for mole removal procedures, according to a June 16 news release from the Justice Department. He would remove multiple moles on a single date but bill the procedures as though they were removed on separate dates to maximize Medicare and BCBS reimbursements.
To conceal his scheme, Dr. Greager stored moles at his office and delayed sending them for pathology testing, as well as faked patient charts.
He pleaded guilty earlier this year to a healthcare fraud charge and admitted he knew the insurers paid more for moles removed on separate dates. Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield paid Dr. Greager around $1.7 million from the scheme.