American Health Imaging, Inc. (AHI) and Scott Arant, the founder and former CEO, will pay the United States and Georgia governments over $5-million to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act (FCA).
That’s according to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Ryan Buchanan.
Buchanan’s office said AHI reportedly violated the FCA by providing physicians with meals, tickets, and other gifts to get those physicians to refer diagnostic scans to AHI’s independent testing facilities between 2011 and 2019.
Also, they allegedly entered into above fair market value personal services agreements with referring physicians to get them to refer scans to AHI.
“The use of inducements to obtain referrals from medical professionals jeopardizes the integrity of our healthcare programs,” Buchanan said in a press release. “This settlement demonstrates our office’s commitment to hold accountable providers who ignore Medicare and Medicaid’s strict prohibition against using kickbacks for personal greed.”
The allegations were filed by former AHI employee Tanya Benjamin under the whistleblower provision of the FCA. She will receive a share of the settlement.
“We won’t allow for any provider to take advantage of a system meant to care for our most vulnerable Georgians,” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said. “We will continue to protect the interests of Georgia patients and taxpayers by putting a stop to Medicaid fraud and abuse in our state.”
The allegations also stated that in the eight-year time frame, AHI enticed physicians with gifts of alcohol, gas cards, and free scans. Other “inducements” also reportedly included sporting events like tickets to the SEC championship game, tickets to concerts, monthly dinners with referral sources, and outings to nail salons.
Physicians were also compensated to interpret the scans that they referred to AHI according to Buchanan’s office.
AHI is headquartered in Atlanta and has over 20 locations in Georgia, including one in Gainesville.
