Firm must pay $2 million in fraud case

West Valley Imaging and its principals, Dr. William L. Boren and Dr. Luke S. Cesaretti, must pay the federal government $2 million to resolve allegations that they submitted false or fraudulent claims to Medicare.

The settlement agreed to Wednesday is one of the largest ever negotiated by the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a statement released by the office.

The government alleged that Boren and Cesaretti and their radiology firm defrauded Medicare by improper billing practices that included providing diagnostic tests to Medicare beneficiaries without the required treating doctors' orders.

Boren said his firm's lawyer advised he and Cesaretti to agree to the settlement because it would cost more to go to court to prove their innocence.

"We never agreed that we did it," Boren said.

According to Boren, West Valley only did X-rays and other imaging services on patients at the request of doctors.

"When they (government inspectors) looked at our records, they couldn't find a copy of the doctor's orders," Boren said. "The only thing we did wrong is that we didn't keep good records. Believe me, we do now."

Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson in a prepared statement, said the office is "committed to holding providers accountable for defrauding the Medicare program."

Boren has been in the headlines before.

On Wednesday, he talked briefly about the $1 million settlement he said he entered into with Wende Nostro after he penetrated her husband's pulmonary artery during what was supposed to be a routine biopsy procedure at one of his outpatient imaging centers in 2001.

After the procedure, Michael Nostro was taken to the hospital, where he died. An autopsy showed he was cancer free.

Despite the two settlements that he agrees put him in a negative light, Boren said Wednesday that his West Valley Imaging firms "gives very good service" to the people of Clark County.

"We have some of the best equipment in town," he said.

Boren and Cesaretti also were involved in a lawsuit against Review-Journal wine columnist Gil Lempert-Schwartz several years ago.

They claimed they gave Lempert-Schwartz $200,000 to purchase vintage French Bordeaux in 2002. The lawsuit was settled in 2005 after the doctors received their wine.

Review-Journal writer Adrienne Packer contributed to this report.