Orthodontist Michael David Goodwin Sentenced for Texas Medicaid Fraud

An Amarillo orthodontist has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for health care fraud.

Dr. Michael David Goodwin was sentenced Tuesday to 50 months in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $1.8 million in restitution.

The 63-year-old Goodwin pleaded guilty in December 2012 to one count of health care fraud related to the Texas Medicaid program.

Court documents show that Goodwin devised a scheme to defraud the Texas Medicaid program by billing the program for more than $2.6 million for services which he claimed to provide, but were either not medically necessary, or were provided by dental assistants.

Goodwin spent two weeks per month at his practice in Amarillo, and the other two weeks at his practice in Crown Point, Indiana. The U.S. Attorney’s office says that Goodwin had his employees schedule more than 100 Medicaid patients for days when he was scheduled to be out of town.

He would reportedly direct dental assistants to perform impermissible acts, including comprehensive examinations, diagnoses, and treatment planning for Medicaid patients, when only licensed dentists are permitted to perform those acts.

The U.S. Attorney’s office continues, saying that Goodwin would have his billing staff to fraudulently state on Medicaid claims that he was the performing provider for all services that had been impermissibly delegated to dental assistants.

In addition, Goodwin reportedly instructed his dental assistants to indicate in the patient records that an “adjustment” was performed on every visit, when no such adjustment had been provided.

Goodwin must report to the Bureau of Prisons on April 29^th, 2013.