NEW YORK – Two doctors, one of their practices, and a medical group have agreed to settle cases involving kickbacks they received in return for referring patients for laboratory testing, the US Department of Justice announced on Thursday.
Imran Chishti and his medical practice, C Care, of Chesterfield, Missouri; Shamim Justin Badiyan of Frisco, Texas, and Psych Care Consultants, of St. Louis, will pay a combined $525,610 to settle allegations they violated the False Claims Act by receiving the illegal kickbacks.
The DOJ alleged that between July 2016 and August 2018, Chishti and C Care received thousands of dollars from a "purported" management service organization, Infinity Nine Health Group. In return, Chishti ordered lab tests from American Institute of Toxicology, which did business as HealthTrackRx in Denton, Texas, and InHealth Diagnostic, which did business as RealLab in Dallas.
The DOJ further alleged C Care received thousands of dollars in payments from Alari Group, another management service organization, in return for Chishti ordering lab tests from Genesis Reference Laboratories in Orlando, Florida, and RDx Bioscience in Kenilworth, New Jersey.
Chishti and C Care have agreed to pay $125,504 to resolve the allegations.
In the case of Badiyan, the DOJ said that from November 2018 to June 2022, he received thousands of dollars in payments from "purported" management service organization Avior Group for ordering tests from RDx and Genesis, which paid commission to Corum Group, an independent contractor recruiter. Corum used Avior to pay kickbacks to Badiyan and other healthcare providers in exchange for their referrals, the DOJ alleged.
Badiyan will pay $182,676 to resolve the case.
Meanwhile, between January 2019 and March 2020, Psych Care received thousands of dollars from Alari for ordering lab tests from Genesis and InHealth, according to the DOJ, which added that those firms paid commission to Corum, which used Alari to pay kickbacks to Psych Care and others for their referrals.
Psych Care has agreed to pay $217,430 to resolve the allegations against it.