Connecticut ophthalmologist Donald Salzberg, MD, pleaded guilty to accepting kickbacks for $3 million in unnecessary brain scans, the Justice Department said July 14.
Dr. Salzberg, 67, owned and operated a West Hartford, Conn., ophthalmology practice, the department said. From 2014 to 2019, he ordered hundreds of medically unnecessary transcranial doppler scans from a medical diagnostics company in exchange for kickbacks of $100 to $125 apiece and phony administrative service fees.
As part of the scheme, a principal for the diagnostics company submitted more than $3 million in claims to payers, including CMS, for Dr. Salzberg's false patient diagnoses, the department said.
Dr. Salzberg faces up to 10 years in prison for each of two charges related to the scheme, the department said. He also faces up to three years of supervised release and a maximum fine of $250,000.