The Justice Department filed a complaint in February alleging Rick Nassenstein played a central role in a scheme in which the company paid referring cardiologists exorbitant fees to supervise PET scans from at least 2017 through June 2023.
Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on June 11 denied the motion to dismiss the allegations.
Among other allegations, Mr. Nassenstein is accused of entering pay arrangements with referring cardiologists where they were paid as if they were supervising scans even if they were providing care in an office or were off-site. According to the complaint, Mr. Nassenstein’s fraudulent conduct resulted in more than 75,000 false Medicare claims.
In October, Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based Cardiac Imaging and former CEO Sam Kancherlapalli agreed to pay more than $85 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations.
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