A federal judge has denied a defendant's motion to dismiss in a case in which insurance giant Aetna alleged a diagnostic lab paid doctors kickbacks to order unnecessary blood tests.

Aetna Inc. sued Health Diagnostic Laboratory, BlueWave Healthcare Consultants and its owners for the alleged fraudulent billing scheme. The motion to dismiss came from BlueWave, a company that employed and trained the sales and marketing team that sold HDL products and services to doctors.

According to an opinion by U.S. District Judge Robert F. Kelly of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Aetna argued that BlueWave referred physicians in the Aetna network and told them that they would be paid to refer blood samples to HDL for testing.