Tinley Park doctor convicted of Medicare fraud gets 40 months

A Tinley Park doctor convicted earlier this year of defrauding Medicare has been sentenced to 40 months in prison and ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution.

In January, Dr. Banio Koroma, 66, was found guilty by a federal jury of two counts of health care fraud and two counts of making false statements related to health care matters, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Koroma worked for Mobile Doctors, which contracted with physicians to arrange in-home visits for patients in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and other states, prosecutors said. Mobile Doctors was located at 3319 N. Elston until it closed in 2013.

Prosecutors said Koroma certified patients as confined to their homes when they weren’t actually homebound and didn’t need the services he’d ordered. The certification for one of those patients, who was able to leave her home and visit her primary-care physician’s office, cost Medicare more than $45,000.

U.S. District Judge John Tharp Jr. sentenced Koroma to 40 months during a hearing Friday, according to FBI spokesman Garrett Croon. The doctor was also ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution.

The investigation into Mobile Doctors previously resulted in the conviction of the company’s CEO, Dike Ajiri, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. He pleaded guilty last year to fraudulently increasing bills, and defrauding Medicare and the Railroad Retirement Board of $1.854 million.