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Release [print
friendly page] Spokane Doctor Sentenced to Prison APR 28 -- (Seattle) – DEA Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Arnold R. Moorin and the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, James A. McDevitt, announced that on April 27, 2009 Keith L. Hindman was sentenced to nine months in prison followed by three years of court supervision after release. Hindman was also ordered to conduct 240 hours of community service and pay restitution totaling over $6,800 to several health care insurance programs, including Medicaid, Premera Blue Cross, Asuris Northwest Health, Molina, and Corporate Benefit Services of America. Hindman was licensed in the State of Washington as a Doctor of Osteopathy. He operated Foundation Medical Clinic in Deer Park, Washington, specializing in family practice medicine and pain management. Hindman also operated a counseling program known as Celebrate Recovery for patients who were abusing their prescription narcotics and/or were using illegal controlled substances. Hindman was charged with prescribing Schedule II Controlled Substances for other than a legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice and health care fraud. The charges stemmed from the issuance of prescriptions for Oxycontin, Oxycodone, and Methadone to patients who purportedly sought controlled substances for pain management but who instead were using the drugs to feed their drug addictions and for other reasons. The health care insurance programs ultimately paid for the unlawfully prescribed drugs when prescriptions were filled and dispensed by pharmacies. On August 29, 2008, Hindman pleaded guilty to the criminal charges. As part of the plea agreement he agreed to forfeit his medical license as well as his DEA registration number, which allowed him to issue prescriptions for controlled substances. Hindman agreed not to seek reinstatement of his license or registration number. In addition, he has closed the Foundation Medical Clinic and no longer operates the Celebrate Recovery program. This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. |
