California radiologist charged in $25 million bribery scheme

Radiologist Ronald Grusd, MD, and seven other medical professionals from California have been charged for taking part in a bribery scheme involving $25 million in improper workers’ compensation claims. Six corporations, including California Imaging Network in Beverly Hills, were also charged.

Grusd allegedly paid a chiropractor based out of San Diego in exchange for patient referrals.

“Today’s indictments are only the first wave of charges in what we believe is rampant corruption on the part of some physicians and chiropractors in their dealings with the health care system in general, and California’s Workers’ Compensation System in particular,” U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said in a statement. “A patient puts his trust, and his very life, into the hands of his physician. A doctor’s decisions should never, under any circumstances, be influenced by anything other than the patient’s best interest.”

“This criminal network bought and sold patients like cattle,” Bonnie Dumanis, San Diego County district attorney, said in the same statement.

More information is available on the Department of Justice’s website.

Michael Walter
Michael Walter, Managing Editor

Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.

Around the web

The patient, who was being cared for in the ICU, was not accompanied or monitored by nursing staff during his exam, despite being sedated.

The nuclear imaging isotope shortage of molybdenum-99 may be over now that the sidelined reactor is restarting. ASNC's president says PET and new SPECT technologies helped cardiac imaging labs better weather the storm.

CMS has more than doubled the CCTA payment rate from $175 to $357.13. The move, expected to have a significant impact on the utilization of cardiac CT, received immediate praise from imaging specialists.