Modern Nuclear Inc., a La Habra, California-based provider of mobile positron emission tomography scans, agreed to pay $8,334,350.71 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by offering unlawful kickbacks to medical practices in exchange for patient referrals billed to Medicare and Medicaid [1]. The Department of Justice announced the settlement on April 28, 2026 [1].
The False Claims Act imposes liability on any person or entity that knowingly submits false or fraudulent claims to federal programs, and the Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits offering or receiving remuneration, including payments or other benefits, to induce referrals for services covered by federal healthcare programs [1]. In this case, federal investigators alleged that Modern Nuclear Inc. provided unlawful compensation to referring medical practices as consideration for directing patients toward the company's mobile PET scan services, with the resulting claims then submitted to Medicare and Medicaid [1]. Mobile PET scan providers occupy a particular compliance pressure point because they depend on external physician referrals to generate patient volume, creating structural incentive to cultivate those relationships through means that can cross into prohibited remuneration.
The settlement falls under the DOJ's ongoing enforcement of the False Claims Act against healthcare fraud, a priority the department has pursued through both affirmative investigations and relator-initiated qui tam actions [1]. The source materials do not identify named individuals as defendants or disclose whether the matter originated with a whistleblower complaint, though the False Claims Act's qui tam provisions frequently serve as the trigger for similar actions. The agreement does not constitute an admission of liability by Modern Nuclear Inc.
The settlement resolves the civil allegations without prejudice to any parallel criminal review, and the company's ongoing compliance posture, including whether it entered a corporate integrity agreement with the Office of Inspector General, was not specified in the available materials. DOJ settlements of this type typically require the settling entity to cooperate with any related investigations and may impose monitoring conditions. Enforcement activity targeting mobile and contracted medical imaging services has intensified as federal programs seek to recover losses attributable to referral arrangements that distort clinical decision-making and inflate program costs [1].
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