Board-certified radiologist Fred Steinberg, MD, along with his imaging centers and related entities in Palm Beach County, Fla., will pay $7 million to the government to settle charges of healthcare fraud.
According to the Justice Department, some CT scans were not performed even though the full procedures were billed for and information passed along to physicians. Government investigators said Steinberg and his associates billed thousands of procedures to federal healthcare programs, including Medicare, and performed CT scans and ultrasounds not ordered by physicians and medically unnecessary.
"This settlement confirms our vigorous pursuit of allegations of fraud and abuse in federal healthcare programs, against both companies and individuals," said Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, acting Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice's civil division. "All participants in these programs must abide by the government's requirements for the provision of care and proper billing, and this settlement reflects the importance the department places on compliance with the law, including those laws governing prohibited financial relationships."
The settlement also resolves allegations that financial inducements were paid to physicians for patient referrals, which are prohibited under the Stark law and the Anti-Kickback statute.
The government launched its investigation in response to a whistleblower action under the False Claims Act brought by a former employee of one of the Steinberg group practices. The whistleblower will receive $1.7 million as his/her share of the recovery.
"Billing Medicare for tests that are either not medically necessary or not performed is an abuse of the Medicare program that squanders scarce dollars," said R. Alexander Acosta, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. "We will aggressively prosecute any physicians, including board-certified specialists, who abuse and steal from the Medicare system to line their own pockets."