The HHS Office of Inspector General issued a data brief Wednesday outlining fraud problems in the home healthcare industry, identifying Chicago as a top "hotspot" for home healthcare fraud.
The data brief, which listed 27 geographic hotspots for home healthcare fraud nationwide, discovered dozens of home healthcare agencies and physicians in Chicago making claims similar to those in previous fraud cases, according to the Chicago Tribune.
In Chicago, some 37 home health providers and 257 physicians were flagged as potentially fraudulent in the report, though none were named.
The Chicago region is home to the greatest sum of health payments from Medicare — more than $900 million in 2015 — out of $18.4 billion total that year.
Chicago has historically witnessed high instances of home healthcare fraud, leading the federal government to suspend new home care entities in the city in 2013, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The data brief was published on the same day the U.S. Department of Justice charged 301 individuals for Medicare fraud valued at $900 million.