Yevgeny Odessky, Medicare Fraud, Illinois 2016

CHICAGO — Two north suburban doctors have been charged as part of the largest national Medicare fraud takedown in history, federal authorities announced today.

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell announced the unprecedented nationwide sweep that resulted in criminal and civil charges against 301 individuals, including 61 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes involving approximately $900 million in false billings.

Two registered Illinois physicians were charged as part of the investigations, announced Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

DR. YEVGENY ODESSKY, a physician with an office in Buffalo Grove, took cash kickbacks in exchange for referring patients to a home health care agency in the north suburbs, according to a criminal complaint filed last week in federal court in Chicago.

The indictment charges Dr. Odessky, 66, of Highland Park, with one count of violating the federal Medicare and Medicaid Anti-Kickback Statute, which is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. A preliminary hearing in federal court in Chicago is scheduled for July 11, 2016, at 1:00 p.m.

Additionally, DR. ZOYA KOSMAN, a physician with an office in Skokie, allegedly caused the submission of false medical evidence to help a claimant obtain federal disability benefits to which the claimant was not entitled.

The indictment charges Dr. Kosman, 58, of Skokie, with one count of making false statements in an application for federal benefits. The charge carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. An arraignment in federal court in Chicago has not yet been scheduled.

The cases announced today were investigated by the national Medicare Fraud Strike Force, whose operations are part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Strike Force has charged more than 2,900 defendants in Medicare fraud cases.

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