Further illustrating that crime knows no boundaries, even amongst those wielding the Hippocratic Oath, Dr. William McMiller, an Oak Park physician, finds himself sentenced to an eight-year prison stretch. According to an update from the Illinois Attorney General's Office, McMiller was convicted for bilking the state's Medicaid funds to the staggering tune of $1.2 million, a sum intended to aid the state's most vulnerable.
The sentencing handed down by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Angela M. Petrone comes after a guilty verdict was established on Feb. 2, for multiple counts of theft and fraud. In his response, Attorney General Kwame Raoul stated, "It is unconscionable a physician who is charged with providing care would take advantage of patients and the people of Illinois.” McMiller has been the proprietor of Dr. Bill’s Learning Center – with outposts in both Chicago and Oak Park, where they purported to offer tutoring and a variety of clinical services. However his enterprise, according to the state, included fabricating claims for services that were never rendered.
Complicit in the scheme was McMiller's niece, Jonise Williams, 39, who dealt with the company's billing. Her role led to a previous guilty plea to vendor fraud, a crime for which she received a probationary sentence. This detail paints a familial collaboration in the defraudment of a public health system designed as a safety net for those with scarce resources.
The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, a segment of the Attorney General's Office held by Deputy Director Elisa Hamilton and Steven Krueger, Deputy Chief of Medicaid Prosecutions, shows a semblance of justice being sought after those who exploit Illinois' health care financing program. Raoul emphasizes the importance of continuing to uncover and duly punish "individuals who steal from this critically-important program for personal financial benefit." Williams' probation stands as a contrast to her uncle's prison sentence, leaving room for contemplation on the varying degrees of culpability and consequence in such fraudulent enterprises.
