A settlement of $810,301 has been agreed upon by South Florida medical providers, including Vascular and Interventional Specialists, LLC (VIS); Vascular and Spine Institute, Inc. (VSI); Dr. Oscar Sosa and Dr. Osmany DeAngelo, to resolve allegations of fraudulent Medicare billing. The U.S. Attorney's Office claims these procedures were not medically necessary, and Dr. Emilio Lopez, a whistleblower, brought this issue to light. Dr. Lopez stands to receive approximately $186,369 from the settlement for his role in exposing the alleged fraud.
Between the years of 2015 and 2024, VIS and VSI, along with their medical providers Sosa and DeAngelo, are accused to have performed numerous percutaneous transluminal angioplasties (PTAs) without proper diagnostic work to justify them. These procedures are meant to improve blood circulation through narrowed blood vessels, but federal allegations suggest hundreds were carried out pointlessly, then inappropriately charged to Medicare and other healthcare programs.
According to a statement by the U.S. Attorney's Office, VIS is a surgery center in Miami, known for specializing in vascular and interventional radiology services with a focus on vascular diseases and dialysis access management. VSI managed the billing for the services VIS provided. The two implicated practitioners, Sosa and DeAngelo, delivered various medical services which included the PTAs in question.
The allegations were initially filed under the False Claims Act's qui tam provisions; this law permits private citizens to sue on behalf of the government and possibly share in any monetary recovery. U.S. Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne and HHS-OIG's acting Special Agent in Charge Jesus Barranco announced the settlement of the case. HHS-OIG conducted the investigation, while Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Feeley took charge of the litigation. More details on the case can be found by visiting the Southern District of Florida's court website or by referencing case number 20-cv-22046 on the PACER system.
