Interventional radiology chain under DOJ investigation for allegedly pushing unnecessary treatments
Modern Vascular, a chain of clinics providing interventional radiology and other services, is under investigation by the Department of Justice for allegedly pushing unnecessary care, according to a report published Tuesday.
The Phoenix-based company operates 14 outpatient clinics across seven states, delivering imaging-based diagnosis and treatment of peripheral artery disease to help save limbs. But patients, doctors and former employees claim Modern Vascular is putting profits first, Searchlight New Mexico reported June 22.
Four lawsuits have been filed against the firm alleging medical malpractice, with one dismissed voluntarily. San Antonio, Texas, surgeon Christopher Busken, MD, said he and partners treated several patients who previously received superfluous services at Modern Vascular.
“People that didn’t need surgery were getting surgery,” Busken told the website. “You just can’t do that to people. That’s just wrong.”
Former chiropractor turned serial entrepreneur Yury Gampel founded the firm in 2017. Modern Vascular employs interventional radiologists in Texas, Indiana, Virginia, Arizona, New Mexico, and Mississippi, according to its website. The CEO and colleagues denied the allegations, asserting that the company does not rely on referrals from physicians who are also investors in its business.
“We don’t do unnecessary procedures, and there are no inappropriate relationships,” Scott Brannan, Modern Vascular’s chief of endovascular surgery, told Searchlight.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice also recently launched an investigation into the company but declined to comment on the scope.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.