State Checking Bills of 2 Medical Labs

State Medi-Cal auditors this week began reviewing bills of a Tarzana medical laboratory business that has been under fire for allegedly misdiagnosing too many Pap smears.

The five-member auditing team will spend about two weeks examining records at Central Pathology Services Medical Group and a sister firm, Central Diagnostic Laboratory Inc., said Norm Hartman, spokesman for the state Department of Health Services.

About 20 medical labs undergo Medi-Cal billing audits per year, Hartman said. He said the Tarzana labs were chosen because of “problems with their practices in the laboratory. . . . In view of that, we felt that it would be appropriate to go in and verify the accuracy of their billing practices.”

But, he added, “There is no belief on our part that they have engaged in any improper or fraudulent practices.”