Psychiatrist Zoya Kosman, Guilty of Social Security Fraud, Loses CA Med License

February 5, 2019

On February 1, 2019 the Medical Board of California revoked the license of psychiatrist Zoya Kosman.

This action was in relation to Kosman's 2018 guilty plea to social security fraud.

Kosman, who was employed at North Shore Univerity Hospital in Skokie, Illinois, but who had also had licenses to practice in California and Florida, was charged in 2016 "as part of the largest Medicare fraud takedown in history," according to a June 22, 2016 U.S. Department of Justice press release.

“Dr. Zoya Kosman, a physician with an office in Skokie, allegedly caused the submission of false medical evidence to help a claimant obtain federal disability benefits to which the claimant was not entitled,” the release states. “Dr. Kosman knowingly lied about the claimant’s complaints, symptoms, and functional abilities in documentation submitted in support of the claimant’s application for benefits….”

Kosman pleaded guilty on April 2, 2018 to one count of “making and causing to be made a false statement and representation of material fact for use in determining the right to a federal benefit.”

Kosman’s guilty plea refers to an incident which occurred on or about July 31, 2012, in which Kosman submitted a false medical report to the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHR) in connection with a claimant’s application for federal disability benefits, listing reported patient complaints, symptoms, and functional abilities of the claimant. Kosman attested that the claimant “can’t work at the present time due to severe depression, anxiety, worries, inability to tolerate stresses, poor concentration, inability to follow instructions, fatigue, and medical conditions,” Kosman wrote in the functional capacity report she submitted to the DHR. Kosman thus helped the claimant obtain federal disability benefits when she knew that the claimant was not disabled.

Unbeknownst to Kosman, the claimant was an Illinois resident who was cooperating with law enforcement.

Kosman faces up to 10 years imprisonment and a maximum fine of $250,000 when she is sentenced.

Source: Plea Agreement, USA v Zoya Kosman, Case No. 16-CR-403, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, April 2, 2018; Default Decision and Order in the Matter of the Accusation Against Zoya Kosman, M.D., Physician’s and Surgeon’s Certificate No. A82420, Case No. 800-2018-046406; and “Two North Suburban Doctors Charged as Part of Largest National Medicare Fraud Takedown in History,” press release of the U.S. Dept. of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office Northern District of Illinois, June 22, 2016.