The United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced on May 1, 2026 that Modern Nuclear Inc. (MNI), a La Habra-based mobile PET scan company, agreed to pay a total of $8,334,350 plus additional money based on future revenue to resolve False Claims Act allegations that it violated federal law by paying referring cardiologists excessive fees to supervise positron emission tomography (PET) scans.
According to the U.S. Justice Department, from September 2016 to January 2025, MNI knowingly submitted false or fraudulent claims to federal health care programs arising from violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute. Specifically, MNI allegedly paid kickbacks to referring cardiologists in the form of above-fair market value fees, ostensibly for cardiologists to supervise PET scans for the patients they referred to MNI.
The government alleged that these fees substantially exceeded fair market value for the cardiologists’ services because MNI paid the referring cardiologists for time they spent in their offices caring for other patients or while they were not on site at all, or for additional services beyond supervision that were never or rarely actually provided.
MNI purported to rely on an attorney-opinion letter regarding fair market value that the United States alleged was premised on fundamental inaccuracies and that the consultant ultimately withdrew.
In connection with the settlement, MNI entered into a five-year corporate integrity agreement (CIA) with the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). This agreement requires, among other compliance provisions, that MNI implement measures designed to ensure that arrangements with referring physicians are compliant with the Anti-Kickback Statute.
The agreement also requires that MNI implement a compliance program to identify and address the Anti-Kickback Statute risks associated with other financial arrangements and retain an Independent Compliance Expert to perform a review of the effectiveness of the compliance program.
The civil settlement resolves claims brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by relators Matt Lieberman and James Whitney. Under those provisions, a private party or relator can file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of any recovery. The qui tam case is captioned United States ex rel. Lieberman v. Modern Nuclear, Inc., et al. (No. 8:23-cv-01646-DOC-KES) (C.D. Cal.). The relators will receive 16% of the total recovery in this matter. The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.
If you have information regarding false claims having been submitted to Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, other federal health care programs, or to other federal agencies/programs, and the information is not publicly known and no actions have been taken by the government with regard to recovering the false claims, you should promptly consult with a False Claims Act attorney (also known as qui tam attorneys) in your U.S. state who may investigate the basis of your False Claims Act allegations and who may also assist you in bringing a qui tam lawsuit on behalf of the United States, if appropriate, for which you may be entitled to receive a portion of the recovery received by the U.S. government.
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