The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a new complaint under the False Claims Act against the former president, chief financial officer and co-owner of Cardiac Imaging Inc. (CII), an Illinois-based mobile imaging provider.
CII was already the topic of a highly publicized settlement back in October 2023. The facility and its CEO, Sam Kancherlapalli, were accused of paying referring cardiologists kickbacks of $500 or more per hour—well above fair market value, the DOJ argued—to supervise mobile PET scans referred to CII. CII and Kancherlapalli agreed to pay approximately $85 million to settle the allegations, though their cooperation did not legally represent an admission of guilt.
Even with that large settlement in the books, however, the DOJ is clearly not done evaluating this particular arrangement. The DOJ’s new False Claims Act complaint alleges that former president and CFO Rick Nassenstein “knowingly played a central role” in the alleged scheme while holding top leadership positions with CII.
“Financial relationships between healthcare providers and referring physicians can undermine the objectivity of medical treatment decisions and increase the cost of care,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the DOJ’s civil division, said in the DOJ statement. “The Justice Department will enforce provisions designed to prevent prohibited financial conflicts to ensure that taxpayers and patients can have confidence that decisions about patient care are driven by the medical needs of patients rather than the financial interests of physicians or providers.”
The complaints against Nassenstein are just allegations at this; there has been no determination of liability or guilt. The DOJ complaint covers a period of time from March 2014 to May 2023.
Cardiovascular Business did reach out to CII for comment, but had not heard back as of deadline. When the October settlement was first announced, CII did issue an official statement.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.