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Mammography fraud
>Mammography Operator Sentenced For Fraud
>WESTPORT, Sep 16 (Reuters Health) - In the first criminal prosecution ever
>under the Mammography Quality Standards Act of 1992,
>a federal court judge in Virginia sentenced the owner of a mobile X-Ray
>operation to 18 months in prison and 36 months of supervised
>release for operating a facility without Food and Drug Administration
>certification. The court also ordered the owner, Clifton R. Livesay,
>to pay a $3,000 fine. In April, he pleaded guilty on two counts of mail fraud
>and one count of healthcare fraud. Livesay's facility did not
> meet the minimum quality standards for mammography and was denied
>accreditation by the American College of Radiology in 1996
>and was not certified by the FDA. Nonetheless, he circulated literature that
>said that the facility was certified and produced a fraudulent
> certificate. Livesay billed a South Hill, Virginia-based firm $5,760 for
>performing 100 mammograms on the company's personnel. He also
>conducted illegal mammograms for other companies. After an initial
>investigation, the FDA contacted the companies and informed them
>that Livesay's facility was not certified. The FDA also suggested that women
>who received mammograms in Livesay's mobile unit seek
> appropriate healthcare follow-up. Dr. Jane E. Henney, commissioner of the
>FDA,
>said, "Most mammography facilities take seriously
>their obligation to meet standards and be certified so that women can be
>assured of high quality screening for breast cancer. A facility
> that flouts the law is putting women at risk. Such action will not be
>tolerated."
>
>
>
>Kwan-Hoong Ng, PhD, MIPEM
>Department of Radiology
>University of Malaya medical Center
>59100 Kuala Lumpur
>
>alternate email: ngkh@medicine.med.um.edu.my
>fax: 603 758 1973
>
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