United States Pursues Claims Against Neurosurgeon, Spinal Implant Company, Physician-Owned Distributorships and Their Non-Physician Owners for Alleged Kickbacks and Medically Unnecessary Surgeries (Dept of Justice)
The United States has filed two complaints under the False Claims Act against Michigan neurosurgeon Dr. Aria Sabit, spinal implant company Reliance Medical Systems, two Reliance distributorships—Apex Medical Technologies and Kronos Spinal Technologies—and the companies’ owners, Brett Berry, John Hoffman and Adam Pike, the Justice Department announced today. The complaints allege that Apex Medical and Kronos Spinal paid physicians, including Sabit, to induce them to use Reliance spinal implants in the surgeries they performed.
“Improper payments to physicians can alter a physician’s judgment about patients’ true health care needs and drive up health care costs for everyone,” said Assistant Attorney General Stuart F. Delery for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Justice Department is committed to enforcing the laws that prohibit such payments.”
Berry and Pike founded Reliance in 2006, and subsequently created more than 12 physician-owned distributorships that...
