Heart Check America Hit With Largest Malpractice Fine In Colorado's Radiation Department History

Medical imaging company Heart Check America, which has been forced to shut down its Colorado clinics, has been ordered to pay $3.2 million by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for conducting CT scans without state-licensed doctor referrals. It is the largest fine ever imposed by the radiation program division in the state's history.

According to the Associated Press, the company's website also shut down today.

“Heart Check America was exposing approximately 150 customers per week to potentially unnecessary radiation doses without a doctor’s involvement,” Brian Vamvakias, X-ray Certification Unit leader said in a statement issued earlier today. “These exams can provide important diagnostic information to a medical professional, and are necessary in many instances to determine the presence or extent of a disease. But patients should submit to X-ray and CT exams on the recommendation of their doctor, not on the advice of a salesman.”

The company was reportedly conducting body scans on about 150 people a week before it closed in May pending the state's investigation. Scans were allegedly done without a doctor's order, and were not read by a radiologist. It also runs or previously ran clinics in Nevada, Illinois, New York, South Carolina, California and Washington D.C.

From Reuters:

Heart Check came under scrutiny after the Colorado Department of Health contacted walk-in screening clinics to say that updated compliance regulations were going into effect.

Nevada authorities notified Colorado health officials that Heart Check was under investigation in that state for similar violations, and that moved them to the top of the compliance list, [Manager of the Colorado Department of Health's hazardous material division Warren] Smith said.

Four people are named for nine penalty violations, including Heart Check America owner David W. Haddad, who is not a licensed physician in Colorado. The company has also been sued by the state of Illinois for using sales tactics to issue imaging contracts worth thousands of dollars.

Comments

[Anush B]

12:06 AM on 09/09/2011

What happened is this company sold its contracts to another (most likely) fake company, and even though they closed down, they are still making people pay! There is not enough action going on, and there are more companies involved, still propagating this scam.

[salsmom]

02:15 PM on 08/09/2011

This is the private industry that the republicans want us to entrust our health care to...

[winebuyer]

10:10 PM on 08/09/2011

+1

[nothingchanges]

01:36 PM on 08/09/2011

I must confess that I am totally confused by what passes for logic in today's world.

A much needed clinic in my rural Colorado Community, is unable to obtain certification for a portable x-ray machine, because as I understand it, it meets many state's requirements, but not Colorado's. (I confess I don't know the full details, just what I've been told).

Yet when I have taken my elderly mother to local hospitals for recent falls, the first diagnostic test specified is not an x-ray...................it's a CT.

I've seen the imaging, I know how much better a CT is than a normal x-ray, yet I also understand that CT's expose the patient to over 50 times the radiation levels of a conventional x-ray.

I'm pleased to see that Colorado is acting in the public's best interest in this particular case, but can't help but question how many certified, and prescribed Hospital CT's are based on paying off expensive equipment, rather than the best interests of the individual patient.

Perhaps it's time for a study, comparing CT usage to conventional x-rays between hospitals. I suspect wide discrepancy's will be found. Then the question becomes, are they medically justified?

[prog]

08:42 PM on 08/09/2011

Don't use a medical service that sends out bulk mail postcards as if they were a carwash or a bowling alley. Which Heart Check America did, we received them.

I can't cite the source, but I recall there was a recent study about an egregious over-use of CT and or MRIs.

[Anush B]

12:13 AM on 09/09/2011

But there are a lot of people, older and/or immigrants, who do not understand that this is not how legitimate businesses operate. They are also the ones without health insurance, so they try to find "bargains" and they also do not understand the risks of signing a 10-year contract. This company was offering people a battery of tests, every two years, with a 10 year contract, and all together it cost..$20,000. I feel really bad for the thousands of people who fell for this and now cannot cancel their contracts

[radiologistphd]

01:18 AM on 08/12/2011

Yet when I have taken my elderly mother to local hospitals for recent falls, the first diagnostic test specified is not an x-ray.....­..........­....it's a CT.

CT is the first diagnostic test ordered because CT shows if a CVA ( stroke) has occurred, if there's any old CVA's, if there's blood in the Brain, and in addition to that it also provide what we CT technologist call bone windows to show any fractures. A CT Brain study provides an extreme amount of information for a fall. A routine x-ray will never provided any of this information.

[sedagive42]

12:13 PM on 08/09/2011

I can buy booze and tobacco without a Dr. note. Why can't I schedule myself a CAT scan or a Mammogram or a TB test or a Diabetes test. The Dr.'s lobby must be pretty powerful. ANd I think an invasion of my personal freedom to imply that I am so stupid I can't monitor my own health. Go Big Brother.

[foothills]

07:54 PM on 08/09/2011

In Colorado, you can schedule a mammogram or have a TB test done without a doctor's prescription. TB tests are routinely done at the county health department. As for a test for diabetes, your doctor would need to feel that you either had, or were at high risk, of diabetes in order for him/her to order the testing. Otherwise, have your eyes checked. The current vision tests are able to identify if you have high blood pressure or diabetes. Why on earth would you want to have a CT scan done without any presenting symptoms? Monitoring your own health is one thing, but you're going to the extreme. The radiologist won't be able to provide you with the information from either your mammogram or CT scan, the lab would not be able to give you a diagnosis based solely on a blood test and tb tests need to be read by someone skilled at reading the reaction. Hopefully, you would want to pay for all of these out of pocket, since insurance should not cover someone seeking to self-diagnose.

[winebuyer]

10:11 PM on 08/09/2011

...imply?

[bcstractor]

11:01 PM on 08/08/2011

This is what Libertarianism is all about - the total freedom to scam money off people.

Damn government - stopping people getting worthless and dangerous scans.

Probably the same gullible people who think libertarianism is great.

[Olderandwiser55]

01:13 AM on 08/11/2011

Exactly!