CHICAGO, ILLINOIS (AP)
A federal jury has convicted two Illinois residents in a $4.5 million Medicare fraud scheme that involved billing the government for services to people who were dead.
Two employees of Medicall Physicians Group in Schaumburg were each found guilty last week of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and related charges.
Rick E. Brown of Rockford ran the in-home visiting doctors group. Mary C. Talaga of Elmwood Park was the company's biller.
Prosecutors said Brown and Talaga falsely billed Medicare for services never provided to patients, some of whom had died. Faked bills included those for services supposedly provided by people after they had left the company and by medical professionals who worked more than 24 hours a day.
Sentencing has been set for dates in August.
The moral of the story: you lie, you lose