A Chicago obstetrician and gynecologist was recently charged with fraud in healthcare billing.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the doctor was indicted in Cook County Circuit Court for several instances of billing Medicaid for services she allegedly provided while traveling abroad.

The article also indicated that the physician purportedly committed fraud in healthcare billing by charging the state for services rendered when patients failed to show for their appointments.

The 60-year old doctor, Manuela F., purportedly ran a practice located in the north side of Chicago that offered gynecological and obstetric care for Medicaid-eligible women.

The clinic was located in the Galewood neighborhood on West North Avenue in the sprawling metropolis. Out of this clinic, she supposedly committed fraud in healthcare by billing of the state of Illinois for close to $100,000.

What is Medicaid?

Medicaid is a public program, dually-funded and managed by the individual states and federal government of the U.S. It is intended to allow disenfranchised low-income people to get needed medical care.

It pays for said medical care for poor, disabled, elderly, and even children. It is a program that faces innumerable challenges given the ratio of need to funds available.

Charges Against the Defendant

Dr. Manuela F.’s alleged commission of fraud in healthcare billing supposedly occurred during a seven-year period from 2008 to 2015. She has been formally charged with theft as well as forgery regarding the creation of false visit records and billing documentation. An additional charge of Medicaid vendor fraud was also filed as part of her indictment.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan issued a press release on this important case reiterating their intention to prosecute to the highest level the law allows.

Imposing consequences for fraud in healthcare, according to Madigan, discourages others from taking similar steps to rob vital economic resources from the state’s neediest populations.

If the allegations are proven in a court of law to be true beyond a reasonable doubt, Dr. Manuela F. is likely to be imprisoned for the better part of 15 years, according to the Chicago Tribune article.

The investigation that led to her indictment on these charges was spearheaded by the Illinois State Police’s Medicaid Fraud Control Bureau. The head of this Bureau, Brian Ley, is attributed as having spoken about the immense disappointment he feels toward medical professionals engaging in this behavior after taking a vow to heal.

The Physician’s Background

Dr. Manuela F. was locally trained at Chicago Medical School and completed her training in 1992. She was board-certified as an obstetrician and gynecologist shortly after completing her education.

According to her own website’s advertising, she has also taught her specialty at two local medical facilities—Rush University Medical Center and Weiss Memorial Hospital.

Rush University Medical Center’s spokesman John Pontarelli said the hospital had no further association with Dr. Manuela F. after she quit working and teaching at the Medical Center by choice in 2014. According to the Chicago Tribune, the spokesperson for Weiss Memorial Hospital could not be contacted for any comment on the case.