A California medical practice and its physician have agreed to pay more than $6.73 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims for medically unnecessary vascular interventional procedures on 20 Medicare beneficiaries. The United States alleged that, from 2016 to 2024, Dr. Feliciano Serrano of Serrano Kidney & Vascular Access Center performed medically unnecessary dialysis access interventions, including angioplasty and stent procedures, on 18 patients, purportedly to treat stenosis in patients’ dialysis segments. Dr. Serrano scheduled interventions on a routine basis, without waiting for complications to present, and he frequently repeated procedures on patients every few days or weeks despite that the procedures were not effective and did not result in any clinical benefit. One Medicare patient received approximately 42 stents in the dialysis segment between 2016 and 2023, including during a period when Dr. Serrano informed the patient he did not need dialysis.
The United States also alleged that from 2019 to 2024, Dr. Serrano performed medically unnecessary peripheral artery disease interventions, including stent and atherectomy procedures, on 17 patients, purportedly to treat stenosis in patients’ legs. Dr. Serrano performed interventions on patients who had only mild or no stenosis and who had only minor symptoms. Although patients complained of pain only in one leg, he performed procedures on both legs and then repeated procedures on both legs every few months. Dr. Serrano told patients that if they did not receive the procedure, their legs would need to be amputated, when, in fact, there was little risk of amputation for mildly symptomatic peripheral artery disease. One Medicare patient received approximately 16 atherectomies in his legs between 2019 and 2023. As a result of the settlements, Dr. Serrano will pay nearly $6.51 million to the United States and nearly $229,000 to the State of California.