Radiology company president gets 15 years for $2M X-ray billing scheme

The president of a North Canton, Ohio-based radiology company was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $2 million in restitution to Medicare, Medicaid and two Medicaid managed care organizations for a billing fraud scheme. 

Thomas O'Lear, 58, president of Portable Radiology Services, was sentenced after being convicted of billing the government payers for X-ray services his company did not provide, covering up the scheme and committing aggravated identity theft, according to a Sept. 30 Justice Department news release.  

Mr.O'Lear submitted thousands of false claims for X-rays and related services between 2013 and 2017, according to the release. In 151 instances, X-ray services were purportedly provided to patients on dates after they had died. 

During an audit conducted by a Medicaid managed care organization, O'Lear created false medical records, including forms for ordering X-rays and radiology reading reports, according to the release. He also reused the same X-ray image for different patients and forged signatures of his employees as well as the physician he said ordered the x-rays.  

He billed Medicare, Medicaid and two managed care organizations for $3.7 million over the course of the scheme and received about $2 million, the Justice Department said.

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