Sept. 04--A west suburban dermatologist has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for bilking private insurers and Medicare out of millions of dollars over several years.
From 2003 to 2010, Robert Kolbusz, 58, who operates the Center for Dermatology and Skin Cancer Ltd. at 2500 S. Highland Ave. in Lombard, submitted thousands of false claims to Medicare and private insurers, causing them to pay out more than $3.7 million for what he said were treatments to destroy precancerous lesions, according to an FBI news release Thursday.
Many of his patients did not have precancerous lesions, and many of the treatments billed by Kolbusz were for cosmetic procedures, such as Erbium "lunchtime laser peels," performed by nonmedical professionals from his office, the FBI news release states.
Kolbusz was convicted in 2014 of three counts of wire fraud and three counts of mail fraud. In addition to the prison sentence handed down Aug. 28, U.S. District Judge John Lee ordered restitution totaling nearly $3.8 million. During the sentencing hearing, Lee said the offense was "serious for a number of reasons," and that it "warranted a significant term of imprisonment."
"Medicare fraud is a serious offense and we will continue to prosecute it vigorously," said Joseph Fitzpatrick, assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
Kolbusz was ordered to begin serving his sentence Nov. 6.
According to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation website, Kolbusz's medical license has been suspended effective Sept. 11 because of his conviction on multiple counts of mail and wire fraud. Kolbusz did not return a call for comment Thursday.
Evidence at the four-week trial revealed that Kolbusz had aestheticians in his office perform cosmetic laser treatments on benign skin conditions that normally would not have qualified for insurance coverage. In bills submitted to Medicare and private carriers, however, Kolbusz fraudulently diagnosed the conditions as being large numbers of precancerous actinic keratosis lesions, and claimed the procedures were needed to destroy them -- at a cost of up to $352.40 per treatment.
Eight patients and several of Kolbusz's employees testified during the trial. One patient, who was a teenager at the time, testified that Kolbusz's staff performed routine laser procedures that she was told were to lighten her freckles. In the patient's medical records, however, Kolbusz stated that he had destroyed approximately 491 precancerous lesions on her skin, leading Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois to pay $4,597 for the treatments.
Kolbusz continued his fraud scheme even after a representative of the American Academy of Dermatology told him in 2007 that he was likely committing fraud, according to evidence at trial.
Kolbusz received his medical degree in 1983 at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine, according to his clinic's website.
amannion@tribpub.com
