Buffalo Grove doctor charged in national health care fraud sweep
A Buffalo Grove physician is among 301 people charged in connection with a nationwide health care fraud sweep disclosed this week, the largest such action in U.S. history, authorities say.
Dr. Yevgeny Odessky, 66, who has offices in Buffalo Grove and Skokie, is accused of taking $22,100 in kickbacks for referring patients to a North suburban home health agency between December 2013 and February 2016, according to a federal complaint.
The owner of the home health agency, who was twice arrested on charges of retail theft in the 1990s, served as a confidential source to federal investigators. That person has not been charged, and is not identified in the complaint against Odessky.
Odessky, a Highland Park resident, has been released on a $100,000 recognizance bond and his next hearing in federal court is scheduled for July 11.
Neither Odessky nor his attorney could be immediately reached for comment Thursday. He faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if convicted, authorities said.
Overall, six people in the federal Northern District of Illinois have been charged in three different schemes involving bribery and false and fraudulent claims for home health services and disability benefits, authorities said. More than $12 million was paid to the defendants and their companies as a result of these schemes, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Nationally, the false billings totaled approximately $900 million, according to federal officials.
“As this takedown should make clear, health care fraud is not an abstract violation or benign offense — it is a serious crime,” U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said in an announcement of the charges.
“The wrongdoers that we pursue in these operations seek to use public funds for private enrichment,” she continued. “They target real people — many of them in need of significant medical care. They promise effective cures and therapies, but they provide none. Above all, they abuse basic bonds of trust — between doctor and patient; between pharmacist and doctor; between taxpayer and government — and pervert them to their own ends.”
A second suburban physician, Dr. Zoya Kosman, 58, of Skokie, also is facing charges stemming from the fraud sweep. Prosecutors allege he submitted false medical evidence to help a claimant obtain undeserved federal disability benefits by lying about the claimant's complaints, symptoms, and functional abilities. He's charged with one count of making false statements in an application for federal benefits.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell praised the methods that brought these schemes and their alleged perpetrators to justice.
“The Medicare Fraud Strike Force is a model of 21st-Century data-driven law enforcement, and it has had a remarkable impact on health care fraud across the country,” Caldwell said. “As the cases announced today demonstrate, the Strike Force's strategic approach keeps us a step ahead of emerging fraud trends, including drug diversion, and fraud involving compounded medications and hospice care.”
• Daily Herald wire services contributed to this report.