Three from West Town clinic charged with Medicaid fraud

Three health care workers have been charged with illegally billing Medicaid from their family clinic in the West Town neighborhood, Illinois State police announced Monday.

Hector L. Flores-Arroyo, 56; Mohan C. Rao, 82; and Susana Araujo, 61, were each charged with one count of vendor fraud, two counts of theft and two counts of conspiracy, all felonies, police said. Araujo also faces a felony count of unlicensed practice of medicine.

In October 2013, the ISP Medicaid Fraud Control Bureau received a tip from an anonymous letter to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services of someone practicing as a doctor without a medical license and possible illegal Medicaid billing.

Flores-Arroyo was a physician at the Blue Island Medical Group at 1802 W. Chicago where he and Araujo treated Medicaid recipients even though Flores-Arroyo was not a Medicaid provider and Araujo was not a licensed physician, police said.

Investigators learned that Rao, a physician who was part of the Medicaid program, conspired with the two to bill Medicaid using his provider number, police said.

Flores-Arroyo, of Chicago; Rao, of Lemont; and Araujo, of Cicero, were arrested on May 18, police said.