A Southern California radiology practice has agreed to pay $5 million to resolve allegations that it delivered contrast-enhanced exams without proper physician supervision, the feds announced recently.
Omega Imaging Inc. also violated the False Claims Act by administering care at unaccredited facilities, the Department of Justice alleged Wednesday. Along with the hefty payout, the practice has inked a three-year integrity pact with the Office of the Inspector General, agreeing to better identify and address “evolving compliance risks.”
“Patients rightly expect that medical providers follow the proper procedures and protocol when administering complex treatments to ensure patient safety,” Timothy DeFrancesca, special agent in charge for the OIG of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in a Sept. 9 statement. “Working with our law enforcement partners we remain steadfast in our commitment to uphold the integrity of government health programs.”
Whistleblower and former employee Syd Ackerman first surfaced the allegations, with the DOJ joining his lawsuit back in May. He stands to collect about $925,000 of the settlement proceeds.
Medicare stipulates that a physician must be present in the office to supervise certain imaging procedures requiring contrast IV, such as CT and MR. The DOJ alleges that the practice ignored these “direct physician supervision” requirements while also shirking accreditation.
Omega—which also goes by the name Health Scan Imaging and Open MRI, according to its website—operates 11 imaging centers in Southern California. The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and Omega has made no admission of liability, the DOJ emphasized.
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.