ProScan owner assures doctors: Allegations of fraud in MRIs in federal suit not true
The lawsuit was filed in 2017 but was sealed for two years while the Justice Department investigated, then declined to pursue the claims
ProScan owner assures doctors: Allegations of fraud in MRIs in federal suit not true The lawsuit was filed in 2017 but was sealed for two years while the Justice Department investigated, then declined to pursue the claims Check out this story on cincinnati.com: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/09/19/proscan-owner-allegations-medicare-fraud-federal-suit-not-true/2377867001/
Anne Saker, Cincinnati Enquirer Published 9:39 p.m. ET Sept. 19, 2019 | Updated 10:01 a.m. ET Sept. 20, 2019
Pushing back against a federal whistleblower lawsuit accusing ProScan Imaging of fraud, the founder of the radiology practice has written to dozens of doctors who have referred patients to ProScan that the allegations are not true.
"You have been working closely with our physicians and our team of support staff long enough to know our quality, our service attitude and our ethics," said the letter from Dr. Stephen J. Pomeranz, ProScan's chief executive officer and medical director. "While the events of the past several days have been frustrating, we want you to know that nothing has changed."
Pomeranz sent the letter after a federal judge in Cincinnati unsealed the lawsuit accusing ProScan of defrauding Medicare, Medicaid and the veterans' health insurer Tricare of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The lawsuit said ProScan recruited unqualified people to read pictures taken of patients by magnetic resonance imaging machines that ProScan owns.
The suit claims ProScan billed the government as if radiologists, who are medical doctors, had analyzed the films.
Dr. Stephen J. Pomeranz is founder, chief executive officer and medical director of ProScan Imaging, a Cincinnati radiology practice with 25 locations in seven states. (Photo: Provided)
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ProScan operates 25 imaging centers in seven states, including Ohio and Kentucky. ProScan also runs a practice where radiologists read MRI imaging and write reports for doctors who have sent patients to ProScan for testing.
The suit was filed by Dr. Peter Rothschild, a Louisville radiologist, and Jason Taylor, a radiologic technician in Louisville. The lawsuit claims that ProScan uses "ghost readers" to dodge government requirements that medical doctors sign off on MRI reports, "eliminating significant overhead costs associated with following the rules."
Calls to the lawyer representing Rothschild and Taylor, Subodh Chandra of Cleveland, have not been returned.
The case was filed in 2017, and U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott sealed the matter for a U.S. Justice Department investigation. Dlott unsealed the case earlier this month when the Justice Department declined to pursue the case.
A MRI machine at a ProScan Imaging location. The Cincinnati radiology practice has 25 freestanding offices in seven states including Ohio and Kentucky. (Photo: Provided)
In his letter to referring doctors, Pomeranz said, "You may have seen or heard a news story about a lawsuit filed by a competitor that claimed that ProScan utilizes nonphysicians in place of radiologists. This is not true."
Justice Department "thoroughly investigated the allegations. We cooperated fully, including answering every question and providing every document requested. The result: The DOJ declined to pursue the lawsuit and closed its investigation."
Pomeranz said all cases are read by licensed, board-certified doctors, "period. No exceptions." The company has 38 doctors reading MRIs. He noted that ProScan has not had a malpractice judgment in 30 years of operations and complied with all Medicare regulations.
The case awaits further action before U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett.
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