Appeals Court Affirms Texas Physician’s Workers’ Comp Fraud Conviction

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin, Texas, has affirmed a trial court’s 2014 conviction of Howard Douglas, III, M.D., of Frisco on felony fraud charges, according to Texas Mutual Insurance Co.

Douglas was convicted and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for overbilling Texas Mutual for medical evaluations performed on injured workers.

Before the 2014 conviction, Texas Mutual had investigated Douglas and Western Medical Evaluators, a company he co-owned with his daughter Barbara Douglas, on allegations that Texas Mutual was overbilled for the time taken to perform patient evaluations. Texas Mutual uncovered evidence that Douglas created three additional companies: North Texas Medical Evaluators; Marconi Physical Performance Testing; and Nolan Physical Performance & Neurodiagnostics. These companies were used to perpetuate the fraudulent overbilling scheme.

Douglas’s attorneys appealed the 2014 conviction, claiming that additional evidence existed but had been wrongly excluded from the trial. However, the appeals court agreed with the trial court’s ruling that the evidence was irrelevant and could have distracted the jury.

Source: Texas Mutual Insurance Co.

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