A Phoenix-area cardiology practice and three physicians have agreed to pay $4.75 million to resolve allegations that medically unnecessary vein ablation procedures were billed to federal healthcare programmes.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced the settlement with Tri-City Cardiology, P.C. and physicians Dr. Jaskamal Kahlon, Dr. Joshua D. Cohen and Dr. Marc J. Berkowitz, resolving alleged violations of the False Claims Act, the federal government’s primary civil tool for recovering funds obtained through fraudulent healthcare billing.
Federal enforcement under the statute remains substantial. According to Justice Department statistics, False Claims Act settlements and judgments totalled approximately $6.88 billion in fiscal year 2025, highlighting the continued scale of federal fraud enforcement affecting government programmes.
For healthcare providers and compliance leaders, the case underscores the importance of accurate medical necessity determinations and clinical documentation used to support reimbursement claims submitted to federal healthcare systems.
The United States alleged that between 1 January 2017 and 27 April 2022, the physicians performed vein ablation procedures on perforator veins that did not qualify for treatment under accepted standards of medical practice.
Perforator veins connect deeper veins in the leg to superficial veins and typically require treatment only under specific clinical circumstances.
According to the...
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