CHICAGO—A physician who operated a south side medical clinic, Dr. Jaswinder Rai Chhibber, was sentenced to 2½ years in federal prison for engaging in a health care fraud scheme between 2007 and July 2010, federal law enforcement officials announced today. Chhibber, who operated the former Cottage Grove Community Medical Clinic, located at 642 East 79th St., Chicago, was convicted following a trial in March of defrauding BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois by submitting false insurance claims for medically unnecessary tests he ordered for patients and using false diagnosis codes to justify those tests.
Chhibber, 50, of Schaumburg, was ordered to begin serving his 30-month prison term on September 5 by U.S. District Judge Suzanne Conlon, who imposed the sentence, along with a $15,000 fine, late yesterday in federal court.
Chhibber was found guilty of five counts of health care fraud and four counts of making false statements involving a health care benefits program after a week-long trial. The jury found him not guilty of seven additional counts.
The evidence at trial showed that Chhibber ordered medically unnecessary tests, falsified patients’ medical records, and used false diagnosis codes on insurance claim forms in various fashions for at least five patients who testified at trial, including two undercover federal agents who posed as patients. Evidence also showed that Chhibber administered echocardiograms, electrocardiograms, nerve conduction studies, carotid doppler exams, and abdominal ultrasounds for an unusually high percentage of his patients.
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