Illinois hospice employees face fraud charges

A federal grand jury has indicted three former employees of a Lisle hospice operator on charges of health care fraud. The indictments were announced Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago.

The accused employees worked for Passages Hospice. The company closed shortly after its owner, 45-year-old Seth Gillman, of Lincolnwood, was charged in January by federal prosecutors in an alleged scheme to gain higher government payments by caring for patients who weren't actually terminally ill.

Gillman's attorney, Ed Genson, tells Crains' Chicago Business his client will be exonerated. The new charges are against a co-administrator, a director of nurses and a director of certified nursing assistants.

Court documents show Passages billed more than $20 million for inpatient care, even though it didn't have an inpatient facility.