Skyline Physicians faces whistleblower suit from employee who claims he was fired for complaining about alleged fraud

A physician assistant is suing over claims he was fired for refusing to participate in his employer's alleged acts of Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

Albert Young filed a lawsuit Oct. 23 in Cook County Circuit Court against Skyline Physicians, alleging breach of contract and violations of the state's whistleblower law.

According to the complaint, Young was employed by the defendant company as a physician assistant who provided in-home medical care and treatment to the defendant's patients, and his services were billed to Medicare and Medicaid.

The defendant company, the suit states, often determined its patients to be home-bound, which then allowed it to bill Medicare and Medicaid.

Young claims on Sept. 8, he informed the company it was committing Medicare and Medicaid fraud by falsifying patients' medical histories, ordering medically unnecessary tests, using white-out to modify reports, and reassigning patients it determined to be "not home-bound" to other providers.

He told the company he would not participate and was fired the same day, according to Young's lawsuit.

He accuses the defendant of violating the Illinois Whistleblower Act for firing him after making the complaint and breach of contract for failing to provide him with written notification of his termination.

Young is seeking more than $50,000 in damages, back pay, front pay, attorney fees and litigation costs and $50,000 in punitive damages.

He is represented by Matthew Malinowski of the Law Offices of Robert Orman in Chicago.

Cook County Circuit Court case number: 2014L011013.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt and it represents only one side of the story.