Home Physician Services CEO Henry Smilie Sentenced to a Year and a Day for $1.2 Million Medicare Billing Fraud

Case from 2015–2022 (U.S. Attorney's Office latest release: June 8, 2022). Published on Scammers.com Oct. 16, 2026; case status is current as of that date.

Henry Smilie, 61, of Lake Zurich, Illinois, was the owner and CEO of Chicago-based Home Physician Services LLC. On June 7, 2022, he was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison and ordered to repay $1.2 million to Medicare for a phony billing scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois [1]. He had pleaded guilty to health care fraud before U.S. District Judge Jorge L. Alonso.

How the scheme worked

Home Physician Services arranged in-home care for patients who were supposedly elderly and homebound. According to prosecutors [1]:

• From 2012 to 2014, Smilie took part in a scheme that submitted about $1.97 million in false claims to Medicare, and Medicare paid his company at least $1.2 million.
• The claims were for "care plan oversight," the billing code for a doctor supervising a home-health patient's treatment. The services either were never provided or were far less involved than the claims said.

When Smilie was arrested in August 2015, an FBI affidavit filed with the criminal complaint made further allegations, which the U.S. Attorney's Office summarized [2]:

• "Just 'make it up.'" A former employee told agents that Smilie told him to pad care plan oversight paperwork to reach the 30-minute mark for maximum payment. If he couldn't find enough, he was to "just 'make it up.'"
• Rubber-stamped signatures. Two former employees said they saw Smilie use rubber stamps of doctors' signatures to create physician orders.
• Undercover patient. A confidential source posed as a 71-year-old Medicare recipient. He was able-bodied and not confined to his home, but the company certified him as homebound. During recorded house calls, he walked outside to tend to his dogs and told doctors he enjoyed gardening and visiting friends.

The affidavit's allegations were not all part of the plea. The facts Smilie admitted are those described in the 2022 sentencing announcement [1].

The person sentenced

Henry Smilie, 61, Lake Zurich, Ill. [1]

• Arrest: Aug. 6, 2015, on a federal criminal complaint charging Medicare fraud [2].
• Plea: guilty to health care fraud.
• Sentence: 1 year and 1 day in federal prison and $1.2 million in restitution to Medicare, imposed June 7, 2022.
• Investigation: the FBI, with HHS-OIG.

Red flags

• Being labeled "homebound" when you can get around on your own.
• Medicare statements showing doctor "oversight" or home visits you don't remember.
• Paperwork with stamped rather than signed physician signatures.

What to do

1. Review your Medicare Summary Notice or your account at medicare.gov for services you didn't receive.
2. Report suspected fraud at medicare.gov/basics/reporting-medicare-fraud-and-abuse or to HHS-OIG at 1-800-HHS-TIPS.
3. Employees who see fraudulent billing can report it to HHS-OIG. The False Claims Act protects whistleblowers.

Case status (as of Oct. 16, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 16, 2026	Source
Henry Smilie, 61, Lake Zurich, Ill.	N.D. Ill.	Pleaded guilty to health care fraud; sentenced June 7, 2022, to 1 year and 1 day plus $1.2 million restitution	[1]

Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "Former Owner of Chicago Health Care Company Sentenced to a Year in Federal Prison for Billing Medicare for Non-Existent Treatment," June 8, 2022. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/former-owner-chicago-health-care-company-sentenced-year-federal-prison-billing-medicare
2. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "CEO Of Chicago-Based Health Care Company Charged With Billing Medicare For Phony And Non-Existent Treatment Of The Elderly In $1.2 Million Scheme," Aug. 6, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/ceo-chicago-based-health-care-company-charged-billing-medicare-phony-and-non-existent

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