Forest Park Med Center Fraud Testimony Begins in Dallas Courtroom

A federal criminal prosecution involving a high-end luxury hospital and multiple health care providers got underway last week with allegations that some doctors offered and received kickbacks for patient referrals. More than ten of the original defendants including one of the hospital’s founders, anesthesiologist Richard Toussaint, have pleaded guilty.

The Dallas Morning News details how Andrea Smith, one of the hospital’s “surgery trackers” sent monthly color-coded spreadsheets to the doctors so they could prepare invoices to be paid by Forest Park.

Doctors often fought over who brought which patients to Forest Park for surgeries, Smith told jurors. Others complained of being “shorted.” Smith said she was caught in the middle and tasked with trying to sort it all out.

D Magazine published a feature article on the eve of trial that describes the allegations.

Will Maddox of D CEO Healthcare Daily reports that the long-awaited trial of the remaining 10 defendants began today. It’s expected to last two months. The feds tracked $200 million to the scheme, about $40 million of which were kickbacks. These were disguised as marketing arrangements in some cases. In others, they came in the form of outright cash payments. All of those facing trial have pleaded not guilty. Two of the doctors, Dr. Doug Won and Dr. Michael Rimlawi, were the men who first recruited the neurosurgeon Dr. Christopher Duntsch to town, who we coined Dr. Death and later became the first physician in American history to be convicted for aggravated assault related to his patient outcomes.

They’re accused of accepting payments in return for performing surgeries at Forest Park. Won’s attorney told The Dallas Morning News that he never received payments to steer patients to Forest Park facilities—he practiced there because of the high quality of its surgical suites and materials.

According to the Morning News, the Forest Park trial is one of the largest bribery and kickback prosecutions in the nation and is considered a test case for future prosecutions. “It is being closely watched by many in the healthcare industry. That’s because the government is trying to make a bribery and kickback case involving not federal healthcare dollars, but private insurance.”