A cardiac imaging company and its CEO agreed to pay more than $85 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations.
Cardiac Imaging, based in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., and its founder and CEO, Sam Kancherlapalli, were accused of paying referring cardiologists excessive fees to supervise PET scans between March 2014 and May 2023, according to an Oct. 10 Justice Department news release. The fees substantially exceeded fair market value for cardiologists' services and they were paid for each hour the company spent scanning patients, including time the cardiologists were away from the mobile scanning units, the U.S. alleged. The lawsuit alleged this violated the Anti-Kickback Statutes and Stark law.
The company and Mr. Kancherlapalli agreed to settle and enter into a five-year corporate integrity agreement. There was no determination of liability.