Health Law Daily Wrap Up, FALSE CLAIMS ACT—SETTLEMENT AGREEMENTS: Medical practice to pay $6.73 million to settle FCA claims, (May 12, 2026)

By Sherri M. Schroeder, J.D.

The United States and the State of California alleged the practice and its owner performed unnecessary vascular interventional procedures on 20 Medicare beneficiaries.

The Serrano Kidney & Vascular Access Center (SVAC), a medical practice based in Huntington Park, California, and its physician owner-operator have agreed to pay more than $6.73 million to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by submitting false claims for medically unnecessary vascular interventional procedures on 20 Medicare beneficiaries. The allegations concern medically unnecessary dialysis access interventions, including angioplasty and stent procedures, performed from 2016 to 2024 purportedly to treat stenosis in patients’ dialysis segments and medically unnecessary peripheral artery disease interventions, including stent and atherectomy procedures, performed from 2019 to 2024, purportedly to treat stenosis in patients’ legs. To settle the allegations against them made in a qui tam action brought by Lincoln Analytics, Inc., the physician and SVAC agreed to pay $6,735,604.68, plus interest, over a four-year period (Settlement Agreement (May 6, 2026)).

Allegations. The United States and the State of California alleged that, contrary to 42 U.S.C. § 1395y(a)(1)(A), SVAC and the physician submitted claims for dialysis access and peripheral artery disease interventional procedures performed on 20 patients that were not reasonable and necessary for the diagnosis or treatment of an illness or injury and thus were not reimbursable by the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Specifically, the government contended that during the period of January 1, 2016, through December 31, 2024, the physician performed medically unnecessary venograms, angioplasties, and stent procedures on 18 patients purportedly to treat stenosis in their dialysis segments. They alleged the physician scheduled these procedures on a routine basis without waiting for symptoms or complications to present. They alleged he would frequently repeat procedures on patients every few days or weeks despite the procedures not being effective nor resulting in any clinical benefit. Patients presenting for unrelated symptoms (cough, anxiety, or cat scratch, for example) and who were not complaining about dialysis access allegedly received a dialysis access intervention at the visit or soon after. One Medicare patient allegedly received approximately 42 stents in the dialysis segment between 2016 and 2023, including during a period when the physician told the patient he did not need dialysis.

Additionally, during the period from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2024, the physician allegedly performed medically unnecessary angiograms, angioplasties, and stent and atherectomy procedures on 17 patients, purportedly to treat peripheral artery disease (PAD) stenosis in their legs. He would allegedly perform these PAD interventions even though his patients suffered from only minor symptoms and ultrasounds showed only mild or no stenosis. He also allegedly did not coordinate care with multi-disciplinary medical teams and would perform the interventions without first attempting conservative therapy measures. It is also alleged that he would perform procedures on both legs, even though patients complained of pain only in one leg, and then he allegedly repeated procedures on both legs every few months. Even though there was little risk of amputation, he allegedly told patients their legs would need to be amputated if they did not receive the procedure. One Medicare patient allegedly received approximately 16 atherectomies in his legs between 2019 and 2023.

According to the Settlement Agreement, for both categories of procedures, the physician allegedly:

• performed interventional procedures on vessels that did not qualify for treatment under accepted standards of medical practice;

• overstated the degree of stenosis to make the procedures appear to meet generally recognized medical standards when, in fact, they did not;

• falsely documented patient symptoms and conservative therapy measures in medical records to justify the procedures; and

• performed procedures in excess of accepted standards of medical practice.

It should be noted that the physician denied these allegations and that the Settlement Agreement is neither an admission of liability by the physician nor a concession by the government that its claims are not well founded.

Settlement. To settle the allegations made against them, the physician and SVAC agreed to pay a total of $6,735,604.68, plus interest, to the U.S. and California. The U.S. will receive $6,506,728.80, of which $3,253,364.40 is restitution. The State of California will receive $228,875.88, of which $114,437.94 is restitution. Lincoln Analytics will receive 15 percent, or approximately $976,000, as its share of the federal recovery. In exchange, the U.S. and California agreed to release the physician and SVAC from any civil or administrative monetary claims they may have under the FCA, the Civil Monetary Penalties Law, the Administrative False Claims Act, and the common law theories of payment by mistake, unjust enrichment, and fraud. Any criminal liability, liability for express or implied warranty, liability for failure to deliver goods or services due, and liability for personal injury, among other claims, were specifically excepted from the settlement. Under the terms of the agreement, the U.S. retained an undisputed, noncontingent, and liquidated allowed claim against the physician in the amount of $90 million, less any payments received, in the event any payments or obligations under the agreement are avoided for any reason, including bankruptcy. The U.S. also required the payment obligation be secured by four parcels of real property as collateral.

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