Former Bolivar physician indicted for health care fraud

A former physician at a Bolivar clinic yesterday was indicted for health care fraud and illegal distribution of narcotics, according to a news release from the office of the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Dolan Denny Crisp, 75, of Half Way, was charged in a five-count indictment by a federal grand jury in Springfield. Crisp was employed June 2009-Nov. 10, 2010, at Pomme de Terre Wellness Center - also known as the Bolivar Family Wellness Clinic and Northwoods Psychiatric Services Inc. - to provide pain management and other patient services.

The indictment charges Crisp with four counts of illegal distribution of controlled substances and one count of health care fraud.

Crisp allegedly issued prescriptions for the medications OxyContin, oxycodone hydrochloride, oxycodone-aspirin and Endocet without a legitimate medical purpose for doing so. Crisp is charged with causing 1,225 tablets of the narcotics to be illegally distributed Dec. 1, 2009-Oct. 7, 2010, the release said.

For the count of health care fraud, Crisp allegedly wrote illegal prescriptions for Medicaid consumers, who filled the prescriptions at pharmacies. According to the indictment, this led to Medicaid paying a total of $4,619 in claims for illegal prescriptions and $12,111 in claims for office visits at the clinic that were not medically needed. Crisp allegedly provided prescriptions for narcotics to individuals who had only visited the clinic seeking them.

The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require Crisp to forfeit $4,619 to the government for the proceeds of the alleged illegal narcotics distribution, as well as $16,731 from the proceeds of the alleged health care fraud, according to the release.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. attorneys Tom Larson and Cindi Woolery and was investigated by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bolivar Police Department and the Missouri Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.