Cardiologist to pay $6.5M after trading kickbacks for imaging referrals in complex fraud scheme
Klaus Rentrop, MD, a cardiologist based out of New York City, has agreed to pay $6.5 million and relinquish ownership of his cardiology practice, Gramercy Cardiac Diagnostic Services, for participating in a complex kickback scheme from 2010 to 2021.
According to the civil fraud lawsuit filed against Rentrop and Gramercy Cardiac, the cardiologist had office space rental agreements with other medical practices and independent contractor agreements with dozens of individual cardiologists. The medical practices would refer patients to the independent cardiologists, who would then refer those same patients to Gramercy Cardiac to undergo diagnostic tests such as PET and SPECT scans. The medical practices and independent cardiologists all received kickbacks for their participation in this scheme, often in the form of large “rental payments.”
When the medical practices did not refer enough patients, Rentrop and Gramercy Cardiac would often respond by refusing to pay the rental payments. In fact, some rental agreements were terminated altogether for this very reason.
In total, it is estimated that “tens of thousands” of patients were referred to independent contractor cardiologists as a part of this scheme. That resulted in more than 23,000 patients being referred to Gramercy Cardiac for PET and SPECT scans. A majority of these patients were Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries.
Rentrop has agreed to pay approximately $4.5 million to the United States and approximately $2 million to the state of New York to resolve these claims. He can no longer receive payments from federal healthcare programs.
Rentrop and Gramercy Cardiac “admitted and accepted responsibility” for this conduct as part of the final settlement.
“Over more than a decade, Klaus Peter Rentrop and Gramercy Cardiac paid millions of dollars to doctors and their medical practices in exchange for patient referrals for cardiac testing and procedures,” Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice. “The Anti-Kickback Statute is meant to ensure that when making medical decisions, a doctor considers only the patient’s best interests—not the doctor’s or others’ financial interests. The defendants violated those doctor-patient relationships through their kickback arrangements, and now they are being held to account.”
This civil fraud lawsuit began as a private whistleblower lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act. The U.S. government then joined that lawsuit.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.