The former president and co-owner of a mobile cardiac imaging company is headed to court with the U.S. government, which has taken up a False Claims lawsuit that accuses him of participating in a scheme where the company paid cardiologists exorbitant fees to exclusively refer patients to it for care and to supervise the PET scans it performed.
From at least 2017 to June 2023, Rick Nassenstein, who also served as Cardiac Imaging Inc.’s (CII) chief financial officer, and others paid fees above fair market value to physicians in exchange for referrals to the company for PET scans to diagnose cardiac diseases and assess heart function, said the government in its case, U.S. ex rel. Pinto v. Nassenstein.
These actions violate the Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law), which prohibits healthcare providers from billing Medicare for services referred by providers whom they share a financial relationship or history with, including in a compensation agreement.
Lynda Pinto, a former billing manager at CII, filed the suit under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which allows civilians to sue on behalf of the U.S. government. Should the U.S. choose to take up the case, the whistleblower will share in a portion of any monetary rewards recovered. The U.S. can recover three times the amount of its losses and enforce other applicable penalties on the defendant if they are found guilty of violating the FCA.
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