Mobile Diagnostics Company to Pay $8.5M for Providing Below-Cost Mobile X-Rays to SNFs for Referrals
October 21, 2019 | Aging Services Risk Management
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A mobile diagnostics company will pay $8.5 million in a civil settlement to resolve allegations that the company provided mobile x-rays to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) at prices below cost or below fair market value in an attempt to gain referrals, according to a September 25, 2019, news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The settlement resolved two False Claims Act (FCA) cases brought against it alleging an unlawful anti-kickback scheme between the mobile diagnostics company and the SNFs.
The federal government paid the mobile diagnostics company, through the Medicare and Medicaid programs, to provide mobile x-rays to SNF patients and residents. Two whistleblowers, the company's former chief information officer and a former regional sales manager, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the United States. The whistleblowers alleged that the company was engaged in a kickback scheme with the SNFs, in violation of the FCA. The government investigated the company's costs of providing...