Dr. Wade Neal Barker, a prominent North Texas bariatric surgeon, officially admitted in federal court today that he was part of a $200 million fraud, bribery and kickback scheme at the now-defunct Forest Park Medical Center, which he helped create.
In formally pleading guilty Thursday, Dr. Barker became the seventh Forest Park official – and second physician – to openly admit to be part of the conspiracy that finally induced doctors to refer lucrative patients – particularly those with high-reimbursing, out-of-network private insurance – to have elective surgery at the medical center.
Fourteen other Forest Park officials, including several physicians, are facing a federal criminal trial early next year.
The Texas Lawbook reported in August that Dr. Barker was expected to plead guilty to his role in the scheme.
Under the agreement reached with federal prosecutors, Dr. Barker pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Rebecca Rutherford to charges of conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare bribes and kickbacks, as well as aiding and abetting commercial bribery.
No sentencing date has been set, but he could receive up to seven years in federal prison.
“Patients trust doctors to make healthcare recommendations based on their best interests,” said Erin Nealy Cox, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. “Instead, Dr. Barker let his own financial considerations guide decisions about where patients would be treated – and, in the process, defrauded millions from patients’ insurance. The Northern District of Texas will not tolerate plots that undermine confidence in the healthcare system.”
Prosecutors argue that, between 2009 and 2013, Dr. Barker and his co-conspirators at Forest Park forked out an estimated $40 million so-called “marketing funds” to physicians, including Dr. Barker, which officials say were actually bribes to get doctors to cooperate.
Lawyers familiar with the Forest Park case say that Dr. Barker’s plea deal is significant because he was part of the founding of Forest Park and is able to provide prosecutors with inside information and testimony to use against the remaining doctors and hospital officials.
In July, Forest Park co-founder and hospital manager Alan Andrew Beauchamp pleaded guilty. In his signed plea agreement, Beauchamp said he and others recruited medical specialists who could refer a significant number of patients to the hospital and then paid those doctors several million dollars in so-called “marketing funds,” which prosecutors say were actually bribes and kickbacks.
Last year, Dr. Richard F. Toussaint, an anesthesiologist and Forest Park co-founder, also pleaded guilty. Court documents show that Andrew Hillman and Semyon Narosov – two men who operated a medical consulting business that, according to prosecutors, referred patients to Forest Park in exchange for kickbacks – asked the judge in the case for more time so that they could negotiate a potential deal with the government.
“With the plea in this conspiracy to defraud patients and the healthcare industry by those entrusted to administer and to protect it, the FBI and our law enforcement and regulatory partners will increase our efforts to shine even brighter lights on such schemes to restore the missing trust for all those harmed by the conspirator’s actions,” said Eric Jackson, Special Agent-In-Charge of the FBI Dallas Division.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Wirmani, Kate Pfeifle and Mark Tindall are prosecuting the case. Mark Werbner, a partner at Sayles Werbner in Dallas, represents Dr. Barker in the case.