State to get $70K in caseOklahoma will get $700,000 as part of an agreement with FORBA Holdings LLC to settle a Medicaid billing dispute. Oklahoma has joined 22 states in the deal with the dental management company. The states and federal government alleged FORBA billed state Medicaid programs for medically unnecessary dental services on children insured by Medicaid. Under the agreement, FORBA will pay the states and federal government $24 million, plus interest, and enter into a five-year corporate integrity agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General. FORBA provided management services to Small Smiles dental clinics nationally, including three in Oklahoma.JULIE BISBEE,
Nebraska to get $270,000.
Attorney General Jon Bruning announced today that Nebraska has joined twenty-two other states and the federal government to settle allegations against FORBA Holdings, LLC., a dental management company that provided management services to Small Smiles dental clinics nationwide.
Under the agreement, FORBA agreed to pay $24 million, plus interest, to resolve allegations that it billed state
Medicaid programs for medically unnecessary dental services performed on children. Medicaid is funded jointly by the federal and state governments.“Taking advantage of taxpayers is bad enough,” Bruning said. “But to do so by performing unneeded dental work on children will not be tolerated.”
Nebraska alleged that FORBA, which operates dental clinics under the name of “Small Smiles,” submitted claims for a wide range of dental services provided to low-income children that were either medically unnecessary or performed in a manner that failed to meet professionally-recognized standards of care.
Nebraska’s portion of the recovery is more than $270,000. In addition, FORBA has agreed to expanded oversight from the federal Department of Health and Human Services.
A team representing the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units (NAMFCU) participated in the investigation and conducted settlement negotiations with FORBA on behalf of the settling states. Team members included representatives from Ohio and South Carolina. Nebraska Assistant Attorney General Mark Collins is the president of NAMFCU.
Courtesy: Nebraska Attorney General's Office
Texas gets $546,000 from FORBA settlement
Kansas to get $1.2 million.
My question here is, why are they in Kansas in the first place. Isn't corporate dental practices illegal in Kansas. Oh, wait, I forgot the story they tell...they don't own it. It's own by, ....well last person to be named as owner was Dr. Mohammad Akbar. Funny thing though, FORBA says it's 'firing' dentists over this. How can they fire dentists in clinics they just 'manage'? If I were to do the bookkeeping for a company that got into deep doo doo, I doubt I would have the power to fire the workers at the company.
Ohio will receive $2.3 million of the $24 million dollars. FORBA/Small Smiles settlement.
Ohio is taking a $2.3 million chunk of a $24 million multi-state settlement with a chain of pediatric dental clinics accused of making Medicaid foot the bill for unnecessary procedures.
Attorney General Richard Cordray on Wednesday said Ohio along with 22 other states and federal officials have struck a settlement with Nashville, Tenn.-based FORBA Holdings LLC, which runs the 23-state Small Smiles chain. In Ohio, the company has pediatric clinics in several cities, including locally in Roselawn and Colerain Township.
Kentucky gets $124,000 of the $24 million dollars.
Kentucky is one of 23 states that reached a $24 million settlement with a chain of pediatric dental clinics accused of billing Medicaid for unnecessary procedures.
Under the terms of the settlement, Kentucky will receive about $124,000 from Nashville, Tenn.-based FORBA Holdings LLC, the parent company of Small Smiles dental clinics. Of that settlement, about $44,000 will go to reimburse Kentucky’s Medicaid program, according to a news release.
In Louisville, Small Smiles has a clinic at 3438 Taylor Blvd. (Home of Dr. Melenie R. Abrams, DDS).
According to the release, some of the procedures billed to Medicaid included extractions, root canals, fillings and crowns. The company, which serves children in low-income families, also allegedly used improper techniques to restrain children.
Through the settlement, FORBA has signed an agreement to change policies at its clinics and establish procedures to detect and ultimately avoid performing unnecessary dental work.
FORBA said in a statement that the agreement “encourages us to continue to focus on vital, high-quality dental care for children in America’s low-income communities and allows us to build on the improvements implemented since the company was acquired in September 2006.”
The $24 million settlement is set to be paid out over a five-year period.
Colorado gets $1.2 million
Colorado is to receive $1.2 million as its share of a $24 million multistate settlement of a series of whistle-blower lawsuits against dental-management company
FORBA Holdings LLC, parent of the Small Smiles chain of pediatric dental clinics, state Attorney General John Suthers announced.Nashville-based FORBA — which focuses on serving low-income children eligible for state-paid dental care benefits — had been accused in the suits of making Medicaid foot the bill for unnecessary procedures.
The 23-state settlement resulted from lawsuits filed in Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina.
The suits alleged FORBA submitted claims for reimbursement “for a wide range of dental services that were either medically unnecessary or performed in a manner that failed to meet professionally recognized standards of care,” Suthers’ office said in a statement.
As part of the settlement, FORBA signed an agreement to change policies at its clinics and establish procedures to detect and ultimately avoid performing unnecessary dental work.
In a statement Wednesday, FORBA said the agreement “encourages us to continue to focus on vital, high-quality dental care for children in America’s low-income communities, and allows us to build on the improvements implemented since the company was acquired in September 2006.”
FORBA was acquired in 2006 by Arcapita Bank, a Bahrain-based investment firm with an Atlanta-based U.S. unit,
The $24 million settlement is set to be paid out over a five-year period to states where FORBA has clinics.
In Colorado, FORBA operates Small Smiles outlets in Denver, Aurora, Thornton, Greeley, Colorado Springs and Pueblo, according to its website.
New York will get $1.1 million as it's share of the settlement. Steve Flamisch reports below.
