Kool Smiles PSC dba Ruby Dental in Kentucky

Kool Smiles PSC dba Ruby Dental in Kentucky-181102 by Dentist The Menace on Scribd

Kool Smiles Frick and Frack together again…

Appears they have reunited! Unlike Martin and Lewis who never reunited Frick (Tu Tran, DDS) and Frack (Thien Pham, DDS) have found their way back into each others arm.

Tran and Pham broke away from Small Smiles in Colorado back in 2002 and started Kool Smiles. A few years ago, Pham broke away and went off on his own. I heard he was “bought out”.

Thein Pham went on to open a couple of clinics in Arizona called Molar Magic. I hear he scouting out locations in New Mexico to open some clinics. 

 

 

 

Tu Tran, DDS stayed in the Atlanta area and slapped his name on the door of every Kool Smiles in the nation. I’m guessing he must spend his time taking CE’s and renewing his dental license since he has one in nearly every state.

 

 

 

Now, Tran and Pham are reunited and I have proof! I have proof they had “split the sheet” in 2010 and in 2012 they are sharing the sleeping bag so to speak. Maybe sharing a cell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You have to admire the copy paper taped to the door these days. It says:

“Kool Smiles Doctors Available to Care for Your Dental Needs Today Are…

Dr. Tu Tran, Dr. Mayfield, Dr. Nkashama, Dr. Jackson,Dr. Duckswork, Dr. Khan, Dr. Ogundipe, Dr. Twardy, Dr. Kalra.

They emphasized “Today”…  but I know dang well all these dentists are NOT available to see to anyone’s dental needs..not today, not tomorrow and not yesterday!

I don’t know what all this means, but you can bet they are up to no good.

No one has stopped the “Child Abuse for Medicaid Fraud” scheme; not yet anyway.

1997 – Drs. Michael and Eddie DeRose along with Dan “put coke machines in schools” DeRose started opening dental centers to abuse children so they could defraud Medicaid, then build a football stadium in their own honor.

2001 – Dr. Tu M. Tran and Dr. Thien Chi Pham were dentists working at Smile High Dentistry in Colorado. Smiles High Dentistry is part of the Small Smiles Dental chain.

2002 – Tran and Pham were convinced to move to Atlanta and open up Kool Smiles, starting with 2 centers.

2004 – Friedman, Fleishcher and Lowe bought the centers and established NCDR, LLC to be the dental management division of FFL.

2006 – First Islamic Bank (aka Arcaptia aka Crescent Capital) gave the DeRoses $435-million for the dental centers.

2007 – In Georgia two companies who over saw Georgia's Medicaid benefits kicked Kool Smiles out of their network of dental providers for it’s Medicaid patients. Kool Smiles said it was because Wellcare wanted to cut it’s own costs! Wellcare said it was because children being abused for profit and fraud. Georgia agreed with Wellcare, and found over 6% of all Kool Smiles patients files didn’t need the care they received and over 3% of the treatment was substandard.

2012 - We are still where we were in 2007 with Kool Smiles – children abused, substandard treatment, fraud.

With Small Smiles nothing much has moved either. Pretty close to the same as in 2003 when reports of its child abuse first surfaced – 11 very long years have passed and we are zooming toward year number 12.

Kool Smiles continued to grow to over 120 dental centers today Small Smiles topped out at 72 or 73. Hundreds of dentists, who likely worked for one of these mills, broke off and opened their own smaller versions of this business mode- Abuse and Defraud for Profit. Adventure Dental and Vision is just one example. Their “owner” also worked for a Small Smiles Dental Center.

Small Smiles alone, treats 1-million children a year.

There have been numerous news reports on Kool Smiles Dental Centers since it’s beginning. There have been at least 72 73 news reports on Small Smiles Dental Centers since 2003.

Each report, from coast to coast, contained the exact same allegations:

• Children being restrained and physically assaulted.
• Unnecessary overtreatment.
• Parents filing complaints and nothing being done.
• A State or Federal Agency is Investigating.

There have been a few letters mailed out scolding the business practices, a tiny weeny fine or two – (that has not been paid yet) and a couple of Corporate Integrity Agreements that the executives wiped their asses on. (well, it’s true!) An a few “official” reports. Personally I’m not sure what a “report” actually accomplishes.

Here is reporter, Sydney Freedberg's report for Bloomberg, published just last week!

Today is July 4, 2012 and hundreds of these little houses of horrors will open their doors tomorrow.

So far Small Smiles has seen:

• $24-million dollar fine they have not paid
• A 66 page Corporate Integrity Agreement they have not followed
• A few scolding letters with no bite
• A $230,00 fine – they have not paid. (the actual fines for all the violations amounted to millions, but they got a discount)
• One measly dental center in Manassas, Virginia they swear they do not own had to be transferred to a new owner
• The Oxon Hill dental center closed for two days of training! I’m NOT kidding!!
• Checks from the Medicaid fund still arriving in their bank accounts daily.

Hell, no wonder everyone wants in on the action.

CSHM Breach of Corporate Integrity Agreement March13 2012 <p>&nbsp;</p>

On March 7, 2012, just days after filing bankruptcy, their independent monitor did a check of the Oxon Hill Small Smiles and turned up all kinds of problems. On May 15, 2012 HHS once again sent out another letter, telling them to shut Oxon Hill down for a two day training session.

The letter stress HHS’s concern that just days prior to the March 7, 2012 monitor visits, that the Chief Compliance Officer – Lorri Steiner,- the Chief Dental Officer, Steven Adair or Gus Ghassen or both – the SVP of Operations, Kevin Reilly,- the Executive Director of Operations,Lisa Mullinix or Scott Nearing maybe- the Compliance Attorney, Sheila Sawyer, and the Regional Director, Dr. Marlene Navedo had been to Oxon Hill Small Smiles and couldn’t find a thing wrong. NOT ONE THING! How can that be???

Are they incompetent or criminals, it has to be one or the other. Are the same folks still running the show down there? Yes indeed…several of them are still there.

Something big happened that was quite serious, I don’t know what, by the Oral Surgeon at the Oxon Hill Small Smiles on February 20,2012. I don’t know if I want to know either.

CSHM Agreement with Office of Inspector General May 15 2012

Next Wednesday, July 11, 2012 is the dead line for CSHM to have reviewed and report past overtreatment at the Manassas clinic. As Bloomberg Businessweek reported, with 42% of all the root canals checked, (104 unnecessary root canals out of 244) deemed unnecessary I’m guessing that report will not look good for the dentists working there, or the company.

This company has been under the watchful eye of government regulators since 2007, when the investigation first began. Can you get your head around the fact they have not changed their ways in 5 years!!!! 

Arrests next week?

Texas State Board of Dental Examiners General Counsel Admitted–“If you own a clinic you are practicing dentistry in the state”

There is such a HUGE GI-NORMOUS difference in the way North Carolina’s Dental Board understands the responsibilities given to them and the way the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners understand theirs. It’s truly mind blogging, yes I mean “blogging”.

North Carolina’s dental board hopped all over one dentist trying to skirt the laws and has now taken it to the legislature to make sure the laws against corporations coming between the dentist and the patient are clear.

After 5 years of work and 3 years of jumping through hoops, some Texas citizens finally got a hearing with the state legislature. Three years, now! Three years! Expect at least another 3 or more to clean up the damn mess down there. One good thing, Sherri Meeks, the former Executive Director, resigned just days “We do regulate dentistry. If you own a clinic you are practicing dentistry in the state."- Joy Sparks, TSBDE General Counsel before the hearing, and on more than one occasion it was highly suggested to the board that they now have the opportunity to hire someone who can and will do the job they are paid to do. I guess Texans will just have to wait and see.

At the hearing held on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 by the Texas Legislature Public Health Committee I heard some of the most outrageous statements I think I have ever heard come from members of any governing body, well, other than Nancy Pelosi saying they would have to pass a the Affordable Healthcare Act to see what was in it. That was huge.

Dr. Tammy Gough, the presiding officer of the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners, told the committee they were researching corporate dentistry laws and wanted to “act as advisors to stakeholders and elected officials on the topic because we feel it will probably be addressed in the future with legislation.”
Joy Sparks, general counsel, said this was a “relatively new” issue. And all they do with people who are suspected of the corporate practice of dentistry is turn them over to the local or state prosecutors. She also, indicated they don’t even follow-up on that useless action.

I bet if someone asked the local and state prosecutors how many cases the dental board has ever turned over to them, I could count them on one hand. If I remember, someone on the committee did ask that question. The dental board was also asked they had ever asked for guidance as to what they laws said hat their duties were. Want to guess what that answer was?

Glenn Parker, acting Executive Director, who has been Director of Administration and Licensing since September 1, 2011 said: “I think everybody knows The Board of Dental Examiners is the agency that regulates the practice of dentistry in Texas.”

“We do that by regulating individual practitioners. We have no authority to regulate clinics or clinic owners.”
“We strictly license individual people”

“We report fraud to the HHSC, OIG the AG and recently we’ve been reporting it to the FBI.
When Glenn Parker was asked about why there was a big jump in Medicaid Fraud, Joy Sparks answered for him by saying, “My guess, Representative is that the reimbursement rates increased by Medicaid.”
Representative Carol Alvarado asked if the clinics committing most of the fraud were Corporate owned clinics , franchises or clinics owned by individual dentists or independent.

Joy Sparks stammered, “Representative, I’m not comfortable saying that. We are seeing both. We are seeing individual and we are seeing individual practitioners who are, we have dealt with and we are seeing…uh uh….clinics, who have done it also. I’m not sure what the % would be.”

Rep. Charles Schwertner asked Lisa Jones – TSBDE Director of Enforcement-if there were the same safeguard against the corporate practice of dentistry as there were corporate practice medicine.

Her answered, “Honestly, I don’t know if I can answer that question, we don’t regulate the clinics in any way. We have no jurisdiction over them whatsoever. We don’t keep statistics on how many clinics there are in Texas or how they operate.”

She stumbled and stammered several times trying to not say “corporate” and just use the word, “clinic”. That part was fun.

Glenn Parker then added, “The Dental Practice Act requires the dentist to make all the decisions regarding the treatment of a patient. The dentist who is in charge of…stutter…according to the law …stutter…stutter… of the dentistry decisions”

He then tells what the dental board has “heard” about what is happening. He says they have heard some corporations are requiring their dentists to bill $1000 if the child in 10 or younger, if they are 10 or older, or bill them $1,500 worth of work.

Could possibly the dental board have “heard” these in a Complaint!!!!!???
He then went on to say, “To the degree on which that happens we don’t really Representative Carol Alvarado – “If you guys have been concerned about this, what have you all done?”know.”
To the amazement of the legislative committee he added, “Can we prove that yet, no, we can’t. But I think that is what’s happening to a degree. We do not know how many clinics there are in Texas, dental clinics. We don’t know where they are. We don’t know who the legal own of them is, cause none of that is in the Dental Practice Act to require it.”

Dr. Tammy Gough, the presiding officer followed with, ”we regulate the licensed dentist who is performing the care in these clinics” .Their not running “willy nilly” as far as the actual patient care.” The license dentist is held responsible for maintaining records..and there can be no patient abandonment…”
Representative Carol Alvarado asked, “If you guys have been concerned about this, what have you all done?”  

Pure silence!

Of course there was a lot of testimony on horror stories that would curl your toes. After all the hearing did last for 4 hours, 21 minutes and 21 seconds.

The big admission on the part of the dental board came with Joy Sparks, their general counsel admitted, “We do regulate dentistry.” “If you own a clinic you are practicing dentistry in the state. The problem is ..our remedy is we sanction a license. So if someone is practicing dentistry under a corporate clinic or private equity they are not licensed so we refer those cases, if we think, their … ya know what I’m saying.. we refer those cases to the Attorney General’s office…cause we don’t regulate…….when we asked if they own the clinic they say “I do”.

Then there was this, “They are practicing dentistry without a license. We don’t do anything with people who are practicing dentistry without a license.”
Well, there ya go.

You can continue reading or stop here.

Parents complaining about Kool Smiles Dental and have been for years I might add–socks over their hands, tied down and blindfolded.

This is the crap you get when you get Private Equity firms, or as I call them, “Lenders for Criminals” are involved in medical care. It’s about the bottom line, not whether treatment is needed, nor is it delivered in professionally acceptable standards!! It’s illegal on so many levels and so far, we’ve not seen an Attorney General with the balls to stop it!

Hey, all you AG’s out there, I’ve got a back up set I’ll loan you! Give me a call! 
Pro8News

Parents Complain About Kool Smiles
By KGNS News

Story Created: Feb 28, 2012 at 10:12 PM CST
Story Updated: Feb 29, 2012
A dental office with a local branch could be in a lot of trouble.
Parents complained about what they call ‘unprofessional treatment’ their children received at Kool Smiles.

They described their kids having their hands covered with socks and tied up while a dental procedure was being done.
[I suppose this is somehow deemed better than Dr. Steven Adair’s Superman Cape idea!]
Some even complained of having procedures done without the proper sedatives.
[I’ve been told over the years, when giving nitrous, they only turn on the oxygen to give the appearance of giving nitrous to parents, bill for nitrous but save on nitrous.  I’d like an audit of amount of Nitrous billed and the amount of Nitrous purchased at each clinic!]
Now a San Antonio law firm says all Kool Smiles locations in south Texas are being investigated.

Kool Smiles Dental Clinics (Chop Shops) - Dr. Tu Tran–King of the Hill-

In 2002 the dentist who owns this $1.2 million dollars home in the suburbs of Atlanta was merely a dentist working at a Medicaid clinic in Denver Colorado.  The clinic was owned by Dr. Edward (Eddie ) DeRose and his son Michael DeRose.

Dr. Tu Tran and his buddy Dr. Pham both worked for the DeRoses.  They learned the business model, tore out on their own and opened up their first chop shop in Atlanta in 2003. 

In 2004 they lured Friedman Fleischer and Lowe, a private equity firm in San Francisco, to hop on the gravy train and spread illegal Kool Smiles dental centers across the nation.

Meet Dr. David M. Strange, Jr. Faux Chief Dental Officer For Kool Smiles

Oh look, it's Dr. David M. Strange, wife and children.   They can be found here, in Colorado.

Wonder what his children are going to think when they grow up a bit more and know what he did to children for a $.

Oh Look, once again Dr. Strange appears here too!  Liar Liar, pants on fire.

So, Dr. Strange has moved back to Colorado, Dr. Pham wanted to move to El Paso, they didn't want him to, so they bought him out and NOW Dr. Tu Tran's dental licenses is under review in Georgia and Indiana, among other states....and we have idiots in Kentucky -Legislators and Medicaid Officials - gather at Kool Smiles for a pep rally. 

I'm not worried though, I'm sure Dr. Polly will keep everything under control....but if I worked at a Kool Smiles, I might be looking for another job.  But while you're at it, tell what you know, file a Qui Tam lawsuit and reap the rewards.  First come, first served! 

Dear God, help me find a way to remove the blinders. 

Tidbits Of Kool Smiles Information

Dr. Tu Tran and Dr. Thein Pham were top dentist's at Smile High clinic in Denver, owned and operated by Eddie, Michael and Dan DeRose where they learned the DeRose Way of spreading dental services to the underserved.

When they broke out on their own, they began with 1 clinic in 2002 and by December 2003 there were three clinics in Georgia.

After 2003 things took off.  By January 2006 the Kool Smiles clinic count had jumped to 14 clinics.  In January 2007 there were 29 clinics and by July of 2007 there were 36.

I know this by using the wayback machine and checking the old copies of the website.

According to what I can find, there are somewhere around 100 clinics across the US, which beats Small Smiles, so they can shut up about being the "Largest" ...unless they mean dirty rotten scoundrels....

Dr. David Malcolm Strange, DDS of Kool Smiles and Kool Kids Dental

Dr. David Strange who is listed as Chief Dental Officer at Kool Smiles is Dr. David M. (Malcolm) Strange, Jr.
His father goes by the name, Malcolm Strange.

I’m pretty sure this is the same Dr. David M. Strange, Jr. that is referred to working at Pediatric Dental Group of Colorado.  PDC has 7 locations in Colorado.

Here is the bio of the Dr. David Strange at Kool Smiles:

Dr. David M. Strange, Chief Dental Officer

Dr.David M Strange is a board certified pediatric dentist. He received his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center along with his certificate of Pediatric Dentistry from the Children's Medical Center in Dallas, TX and his MS from the Baylor College of Dentistry. Dr Strange was formerly an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and previously served on the Constitution and By-Laws Committee of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. He is currently serving on theCouncil for Dental Benefits of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and the Virginia Dental Advisory Committee for the Smiles for Children Dental Medicaid program. Dr Strange is also a member in good standing with the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the Colorado Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the Georgia Dental Association and the Southwestern Society...

Dentists Associated With Kool Smiles, Evansville, Indiana Operation

How many dentists do you think can work at one Kool Smiles dental mill?  10?  15?  20?

Never mind, don’t answer, I’ll just tell you.  The answer seems to be 60!  

Of course we know that 60 dentists can’t possibly work at one Kool Smiles, so they must float around the state from office to office.

But if you check out indianamedicaid.com you will find there are 60 dentists listed as providers at the Evansville, Indiana clinic at 400 E. Diamond Ave.

Dr. Falastin Abu Smn

Dr. Daniel P. Aldulenscu

Dr. John Ambrose

Dr. Kevin W. Beadle

Dr. Jennifer L. Beavin

Dr. Vidya R. Bettagere

Dr. Angelina J. Blass

Dr. Jessica E. Bolander

Dr. Randall W. Moorman Brigham

Dr. Jessica Brown

Dr. Michael W. Brown

Dr. Polly B. Buckey

Dr. Steven W. Buedel Dr. Brian O. Burke

Dr. Matthew A. Butler

Dr. Meghan E. Butler

Dr. Shane T. Cope

Dr. Joshua B. Davis

Dr. Emani Sreekanth

Dr. Shadrach G. Gonqueh

Dr. Kent M. Gross

Dr. Allison M. Heuer

Dr. Amber R. Hobbs-Buchner

Dr. Ted L. Huppert

Dr. Jeffery M. Jones

Dr. Phillip L. Jones

Dr. Ajay P. Joshi

Dr. Edna F. Kemp

Dr. Anthony r. Klein

Dr. Pooja Kumar

Dr. Shalesh Kumar

Dr. Connie Kunelis

Dr. Michael J. Lawyer

Dr. Tinna Lee

Dr. Elizabeth Maletta

Dr. Lucas B. Marrs

Dr. Yovnne R. Mcleod

Dr.Jacob E. Myers

Dr. Raghunandan B. Narasimhamurthy

Dr. Marlene Navedo

Dr. Tiffany Nicole Nightengale

Dr. Karen J. Noel

Dr. Nassim F. Olabi

Dr. Uma Peeta

Dr. Thien C. Pham, owner

Dr. Michael L. Rudolph

Dr. Afsaneh Samimi

Dr. Dipesh P. Sitaram

Dr. Peter Smith

Dr. David M. Strange, Chief Dental Officer

Dr. Pavel D. Svilenov

Dr. Juanita R. Taylor

Dr. Tu Tran, owner

Dr. Ryan D. Tschetter

Dr. Roger P. Valliere

Dr. David M. Vieth, Corporate level, stepped in when Dr. Pham sold out.

Dr. Carl Williams

Dr. Sara J. Willingham White

One name jumped out in this long list.  Dr. Tiffany Noel Nightengale.  Tiffany is also a provider in Indiana, Virginia and Ohio for FORBA’s Small Smiles.   Some dentist are also provers in Kentucky.  Dr. Polly Buckey for example.

We can take Dr. Thien Pham off the list, since according to the minutes of the Arizona Dental Board for August 2009, he says he has left the company.  Wonder why one of the founders is gone?  I’ll be looking into that.

I noticed Dr. Pham was missing from the Kool Smiles ‘About Us’ page the other day.  In his place is Dr. David M. Vieth. 

Kool Smiles Turned Away in Arkansas March 2007

I'm wondering how Kool Smiles PC was able to skirt the laws and get two offices opened in Arkansas.

In March 2007, Drs. Tu Tran, Thien Chi Pham and Dr. David M. Strange, Jr. went before the Arkansas Dental Board to apply for licenses, they were turned down.

From the Minutes Dated 3-2-2007

Drs. Thien Pham and Tu Tran each appeared before the Board for an Arkansas dental license by examination. After some discussion, a motion was made and seconded to grant Dr. Pham a license. With 4 Board members voting in favor of granting him a license and 4 Board members voting against granting him a license, the Board President broke the tie and voted against granting a license to Dr. Pham. After additional discussion, a motion was made and seconded to table Dr. Tran’s application until the Board office receives a copy of his dental school diploma and New York license verification.

David M. Strange, Jr., DDS appeared before the Board for an Arkansas dental license by credentials. After some discussion, a motion was made to grant him a dental license, but the motion died for lack of a second.

Maybe Drs. Thien Pham and Tu Tran, two Vietnamese dentists finally came up with copy of his dental school diploma. However as you can tell, at first it was a no go for these two, then it was decided that if they came up with actual diploma's they would reconsider.

As for Dr. David M. Strange, Jr, DDS, it was a flat NO.

To see the minutes of the meeting click here.

update:

Looks like Dr. Pham came back on September 14, 2007 with Paul Walker and got Kool Smiles in the door.

Click here to see the minutes.