As part of its ongoing crackdown on Medicare fraud, federal law enforcement officials raided a Chicago-based medical group that makes house calls throughout the Midwest and arrested its CEO and its leading physician, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Dike Ajiri, 62, the CEO of Mobile Doctors, was taken into custody by federal agents earlier this week and charged with healthcare fraud. A Mobile Doctors physician, Bania Koroma, M.D., 63, was charged with making false statements in connection with the delivery of healthcare benefits.
Mobile Doctors provides healthcare services in six Midwest states, with visits between providers and patients lasting between 10 and 30 minutes, according to the Tribune.
Although most visits are strictly routine, Ajiri is accused of inflating charges to Medicare by claiming the visits took longer-- 40 minutes or more--and were more complicated, reported the Chicago Sun-Times. Ajiri allegedly rigged Mobile Doctors' billing system to automatically charge Medicare at higher rates. The feds claim Mobile Doctors received more than $34 million by billing in this manner.
In addition to the overcharging, Ajiri and Koroma are also accused of claiming many of their patients were homebound, leading to unnecessary referrals to home healthcare agencies.
It's the second high-profile case of healthcare fraud pursued in Chicago this year. The top executives of Sacred Heart Hospital were arrested earlier this year and charged with conspiracy to pay and receive Medicare kickbacks. The facility closed shortly afterward.