The Kansas State Board of Healing Arts has suspended the license of a Texas-based physician indicted in an alleged $89 million cardiovascular testing fraud scheme, KSNT reported Oct. 1.
The board issued a 90-day order of immediate suspension Sept. 29 for Jason Finkelstein, MD, who was licensed in Kansas through the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact in 2022 and renewed his license this summer. Under the compact, Kansas must automatically suspend a physician’s license when another member state board revokes or suspends it, and the action followed similar moves by other state boards.
Dr. Finkelstein was indicted in June on charges of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud, as well as healthcare fraud. He served as medical director of a company that performed cardiovascular tests on student athletes at school campuses nationwide, and he allegedly used two companies he owned to submit $89 million in false claims to public and private insurers. About $13.1 million was paid out in the alleged scheme.
Prosecutors allege Dr. Finkelstein never examined the athletes to determine whether the tests were warranted, added false diagnoses to the claims, and approved test results within seconds of receiving them. At least one student reportedly died from complications of an enlarged heart shortly after Dr. Finkelstein approved the student’s results as normal, according to the Justice Department. The case includes potential victims in Kansas.
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