ALGONQUIN, IL– A chiropractor who partly owned six clinics, including one in Algonquin, has been sentenced to 6½ years in federal prison for health care fraud.
Bradley Mattson, 51, of Lake Forest pleaded guilty in September, admitting to a 10-year scheme to defraud Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Between 1999 and 2009, Mattson co-owned the clinics, which included Algonquin Physical Medicine.
According to prosecutors, Mattson submitted nearly $5.9 million for medically unnecessary tests or physical therapy services that were not provided. He collected almost $2.1 million in reimbursements, which he was ordered to repay.
U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman said Mattson showed “no sensitivity to his patients” and “put many of them through unnecessary stress.”
“Frauds like this all across the country are jacking up the prices of insurance,” Guzman said.
In 2008, an undercover FBI agent visited one of the clinics for treatment of a lower back strain. Despite diagnoses by the clinic’s medical doctor and physical therapist that the agent had a pulled muscle, Mattson diagnosed him with a pinched nerve and put him on a treatment plan that began with daily visits for two weeks.
The other owners of the clinics, Steven Paul, 41, and Neelesh Patel, 37, of Glenview, face charges, as well. Paul is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to health care fraud. Charges against Patel are pending.
Source: Northwest Herald