Physician convicted on charges of approving medically unnecessary tests

A physician has been convicted by a federal jury in Chicago on the fraud charges of approving medically unnecessary tests. Those unnecessary tests were billed to Medicare. According to the charges, Dr. Omar Garcia authorized percutaneous allergen tests when he was working for Chicago-based Grand Medical Clinic Inc.

Dr. Garcia has been convicted by the federal jury on Monday. The jury found him guilty on the charges of approving unnecessary tests for several Medicare beneficiaries. He knew the fact that the tests were not necessary. According to the court documents, Dr. Garcia approved the tests on several occasions even after the tests had already been completed.

According to the court documents, Dr. Garcia submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare for getting extra payments through unnecessary tests. He has been convicted by the jury on all six charges of health care fraud. Dr. Garcia, 52-year-old, is the resident of Ocala, Florida, and a former resident of Willington, Illinois.

The sentencing date of Dr. Garcia is set for May 6, 2020, by Matthew F. Kennedy, a US District Judge. According to the US Sentencing Guidelines, each count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. Kavitha J. Babu and Saurish Appleby-Bhattacharjee, the assistant US attorneys, are representing the government in this case. According to the court documents, the fraudulent scheme was initiated by Dr. Garcia in 2011.

The evidence at trial proved that Dr. Garcia ran the fraudulent scheme until 2015. John R. Lausch, Jr., the US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Emmerson Buie, Jr., the special agent-in-charge of the FBI’s Chicago office, Lamont Pugh III, the special agent-in-charge of the Chicago Region of the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and Martin J. Dickman, the US Railroad Retirement Board’s Inspector General, announced the conviction.