Cardiac Imaging Inc. and its founder and CEO, Sam Kancherlapalli, have agreed to pay more than $85 million to resolve allegations that they paid referring cardiologist excessive fees to supervise PET scans.
From March 1, 2014 and May 31, 2023, the company and Mr. Kancherlapalli allegedly paid kickbacks to cardiologists to supervise the PET scans for the patients they referred to Cardiac Imaging, according to an Oct. 10 news release from the Justice Department. These fees exceeded fair market value because the company paid cardiologists for each hour, including times that they were away from scanning units or not even on site.
Cardiac Imaging allegedly knew the fees were based on inaccuracies, according to the release.
The company will pay $75 million and Mr. Kancherlapalli will pay $10.4 million.