A 51-year-old Indian-American doctor from Chicago, Mona Ghosh, has pleaded guilty to two federal healthcare fraud charges for billing Medicaid and private insurers for services that never happened. She could face up to 20 years in prison.
Mona Ghosh owned Progressive Women’s Healthcare, specializing in obstetrics and gynaecology. She admitted that she and her employees submitted false claims to Medicaid, TRICARE, and other insurers for services that were either not provided or not needed.
According to the US Attorney’s office, Ghosh “fraudulently overstated the length and complexity of in-office and telemedicine visits and submitted claims using billing codes for which the visits did not qualify to seek higher reimbursement rates.” She also admitted to falsifying medical records to support the fake claims.
Ghosh, who lives in Inverness, Illinois, pleaded guilty on June 27 to two counts of healthcare fraud. Each count carries a potential 10-year prison sentence. Her sentencing is scheduled for October 22.
In March last year, Ghosh was indicted by a federal grand jury on healthcare fraud charges. The indictment stated that Ghosh and her clinic fraudulently obtained $796,000 (around Rs 6.64 crore). She was charged with 13 counts of healthcare fraud, with each count carrying a 10-year jail term.
