FBI Probes Possible Hospital Embezzling : Health care: The agency and UCLA Medical Center auditors are looking into claims that a radiology employee billed the facility for services that were not performed.

The FBI and internal auditors at UCLA are investigating allegations that an employee in the department of radiological sciences embezzled funds by using outside companies to bill the UCLA Medical Center for services that were never performed, sources told The Times on Monday.

UCLA issued a statement to The Times acknowledging an ongoing probe into “possible financial irregularities” but gave no details. “UCLA is determined to identify any illegal acts that may have been committed,” the statement said.

In a subsequent interview, Chancellor Charles E. Young also said the investigation centers on the “potential misuses of funds.”

But sources on Monday supplied additional details, saying that the FBI had interviewed radiology employees about allegations that an unidentified employee bilked the university by overcharging for temporary help through two outside registries in which he reportedly had a financial interest.

The radiological sciences department performs X-rays, bone scans, magnetic resonance imaging and other procedures for the UCLA Medical Center and, on rare occasions, for the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Medical Center. It has an annual budget of $22 million.

The department--as is common in medicine--hires temporary non-physician employees through professional registries to help out during peak periods or to fill in when its employees call in sick or go on vacation.

According to the sources, the FBI and internal auditors are investigating allegations that a department employee used the names and Social Security numbers of registry employees to bill the university for hours they did not work.

The registries, said one of the sources, were “private companies . . . that may be owned by the target of the investigation.”

UCLA officials said that Richard J. Steckel, acting chairman of the radiology department, has ordered a “full audit of the entire department” and that the “release of any additional information at this time could seriously compromise the effectiveness of the investigation.”

Edwin D. Pierce, director of UCLA’s internal audit department, declined to discuss details of the investigation Monday, but said, “We’re hoping we can get something in 60 to 90 days.”

Pierce said the probe is an offshoot of an internal audit that began last year in the radiological sciences department.

Sources familiar with the radiological sciences department said such units are usually profit centers at any hospital, but UCLA officials have been concerned that the department is not making as much money as it should.

Edward Grant, radiology chief at the nearby VA hospital who also holds an appointment in radiology at UCLA, said Steckel has “brought in his own auditors and we’re going to find out what was going on here. . . .”