Federal authorities have seized the commercial and personal bankaccounts of an Amarillo, Tex-based orthodontist linked to a Medicaidfraud scheme, according to an article in the Amarillo Globe-News.Michael Goodwin, DDS, MS, reportedly scheduled up to 400 Medicaidpatients per day and frequently billed the government for orthodontic workhe did not perform.
Goodwin billed $1.67 million in fraudulent Medicaid claims betweenApril 2008 and April 2011. The Texas Attorney General’s Office’sMedicaid Fraud Control Unitreceived information in 2009 that Goodwinbilled Medicaid for work done by dental assistants, who worked onpatients “at Goodwin’s direction and without his direct supervisionwhile Goodwin was out of town, away from the office or even whilepresent in the office,” according to an affidavit in the case.
In addition to failing to supervise his assistants when theyperformed work on patients that state law prohibited them from doing, healso scheduled patients in 10-minute increments, putting pressure onassistants to “practice dentistry quickly.” Dental assistants werereportedly “discouraged” from asking Goodwin for help when working on apatient—work that included putting braces on, making adjustments, fixingbroken brackets, and removing braces
Approximately 95% of Goodwin Orthodontics’ patients were Medicaid recipients.
Goodwin, who also has an office in Indiana, has not been charged witha crime, according to the article. His Texas dental license is set toexpire October 31, 2012, according to the State Board of DentalExaminers. Goodwin also holds two active dental licenses in Indiana.
