Radiologist to pay $7 million fine in CT kickback lawsuit

The owner of a Boca Raton, FL-based medical imaging center chain has agreed to pay $7 million to settle a healthcare fraud lawsuit. The suit charged that the center billed for CT scans that were never performed and offered payments to doctors to refer patients to its facilities. Medicare and insurers pay as much as $16 billion annually for unnecessary imaging tests ordered by doctors who profit from them, according to estimates from the American College of Radiology.