Doctor From Cumming Pleads to Health Care Fraud

CUMMING, GA -- A doctor from Cumming has pleaded guilty in federal court to passing off surgery monitoring to an unauthorized assistant, then lying about it.

Robert E. Windsor received $1.1 million for services he claimed to have performed but never did, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

"The conduct of Dr. Windsor was not only criminal, it was reckless and irresponsible," said FBI Special Agent in Charge J. Britt Johnson. "While Dr. Winsor's repeated and extensive practice of falsely billing for services that he himself did not render is at the heart of these federal charges, the potential risk and harm to those many patients who were not getting the required services should not be overlooked."

Windsor, 54, pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud before U.S. District Court Judge Amy Totenberg. Sentencing for Windsor is scheduled for June 3, 2016 at 10:30 a.m.

According to U.S. Attorney John Horn, Windsor contracted with American Neuromonitoring Associations, a Maryland company, to provide a medical service called intra-operative monitoring.

That's a procedure in which a doctor monitors a patient's nerve and spinal cord activity during surgery "to reduce potential adverse effects to the patient."

He was supposed to be providing real-time monitoring via an online platform and giving a final report at the conclusion of each surgery. Instead, prosecutors say that, between 2010 and 2013, Windsor would assign the monitoring to a medical assistant who was not a doctor and not permitted to provide the service under his contract.

The medical assistant would log on using Windsor's credentials and Windsor would submit final reports falsely claiming that he had conducted the monitoring.

On several occasions, prosecutors say, Windsor billed ANA for monitoring that took place while he was traveling on international flights.

Investigators uncovered the fraud through analysis of Medicare billing data and tips made to a Department of Health and Human Services complaint line.