Local Physician Sentenced on Health Care Fraud Charges

St. Louis, MO – DR. DEVON GOLDING was sentenced yesterday to four months imprisonment and eight months home detention on multiple health care fraud related charges for billing for services not rendered and false statements involving a health care benefit plan.  Dr. Golding will also have to pay over $145,000 in restitution.

According to testimony presented at trial, Dr. Golding billed for services on multiple occasions when he was actually out of town.  Dr. Golding employed a registered nurse, who at various times during her employment from September 2009 to November 2011, took the examination to become certified as a nurse practitioner.  Each time, she failed the examination and advised Dr. Golding that she had failed the examination.  She worked five days a week and saw patients on these days.  Dr. Golding typically came to the office 2-3 days a week.  In Dr. Golding’s absence, the registered nurse examined and diagnosed patients, prescribed narcotic medications and ordered lab tests for the patients. The registered nurse also completed progress notes for the patients, which Dr. Golding signed upon his return to the office, and thereby falsely indicated that he had seen the patients.  Dr. Golding directed the registered nurse to provide these services, although he knew these services were beyond the scope of her license as a registered nurse.

Golding, St. Louis, MO, was convicted in February of three felony counts of health care fraud and two felony counts of making false statements related to health services. He appeared Thursday before United States District Judge John A. Ross.

This case was investigated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services-Office of the Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Dorothy McMurtry and Gwen Carroll handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.