The Illinois attorney general has filed a lawsuit against whole-body CT scanning chain Heart Check America (HCA), charging the company with deceptive marketing practices in pitching "preventive" CT scans to otherwise healthy Illinois residents.
The lawsuit is the latest problem for the embattled chain, which began shuttering operations in several states in May after regulators in Colorado ordered it to stop performing scans without doctor referrals and supervising physicians.
The Illinois lawsuit was filed on June 23 by Attorney General Lisa Madigan in a Cook County state court against Heart Check America facilities in two cities, Arlington Heights and Tinley Park. The complaint also names as defendants Sheila Haddad, president of Heart Check America, and her son David Haddad, an HCA sales and marketing executive.
Heart Check America offered medical imaging studies designed for "preventive diagnosis," such as electron-beam CT scans and virtual colonoscopy and CT-based osteoporosis studies. The firm's marketing pitch frequently started with free heart or lung scans, which could be "upgraded" to 10-year scanning packages costing thousands of dollars that included annual exams for asymptomatic individuals.
The Illinois complaint levels a number of charges against the Haddads and Heart Check America that it says violate Illinois state law, including the following:
- Enrolling customers in long-term contracts, accepting money for those contracts, then not providing the contracted-for services
- Failing to inform consumers of the potential risks of the medical procedures
- Failing to provide scans or scan results
- Providing inaccurate test results
- Making misrepresentative statements regarding the effectiveness of its medical screening procedures
- Calling consumers registered on the National Do Not Call Registry
The complaint provides examples of several consumers who the complaint states were allegedly victims of Heart Check America's marketing tactics and who took out loans with financing firms to pay for the scanning packages. In one case, a husband and wife bought a 10-year "platinum service plan" for $3,000 but only had two scans performed before the HCA facility shut down.
In another case, an Illinois couple financed the $4,995 fee required for their 10-year platinum service plan with the Tinley Park center, but the facility closed after they received only a couple of procedures. They are asking for a full refund from their financing firm of the amount they have paid to date and also the cancellation of the rest of their loan payments. The complaint states that the loan company has issued them a provisional credit for the full amount in the dispute.
Finally, a third consumer signed up for a free heart scan after visiting an HCA display at the Chicago Golf Show in February 2011. Upon visiting the Arlington Heights facility, however, she was convinced to "upgrade" to a full-body scan for $600 after telling an HCA representative about pain in her back, the complaint states.
Some eight weeks after the scan, the consumer received results indicating that she had some calcification in her heart. After taking the results to her personal physician, she was told that the results had no medical relevance, because "everyone over the age of 50 has some calcification," the complaint states. A follow-up study performed at a community hospital indicated that the HCA scans were inaccurate -- for example, the consumer had a kidney stone on one side of her body, but the HCA results indicated that the stone was on the opposite side. The consumer is seeking a refund of the $600.
The complaint goes on to state that 25 Illinois consumers have filed complaints against Heart Check America with the attorney general's office since August 2010, and more continue to come in.
The complaint requests the court to enjoin the defendants from engaging in the practices mentioned in the complaint that violate Illinois consumer protection law, rescind Heart Check America's contracts with consumers and also any financing contracts with third parties related to HCA contracts, and assess civil penalties of up to $100,000.
In a notice to customers signed by Sheila Haddad and posted on the company's website dated June 9, 2011, Heart Check America notifies potential customers that it "has ceased doing business in your area." The letter states that HCA has made provisions to ensure that customers will not experience an interruption in services, and that the servicing of customer contracts has been assigned to Health Screening Plus.
Health Screening Plus is owned and operated by board-certified radiologists, the letter states, and HCA customers can schedule their next appointments after June 25.
