Showing posts with label Gentle Dental. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gentle Dental. Show all posts

Monday, November 26, 2012

Gentle Dental in more hot water

New Jersey State Comptroller Statement

November 20, 2012 -- The New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) is seeking recoveries from a dental practice that forged Medicaid reimbursement documents to conceal that its owner, who was no longer physically able to treat patients, had been replaced with a dentist who was debarred from the Medicaid program.

Anicia Cruz-Sledge assumed control of the Gentle Dental Group in East Orange in 2007 after her husband, the owner and primary dentist for the practice, suffered a medical condition that left him incapacitated and no longer able to treat patients, according to a notice filed by the OSC's office.

The investigation by OSC's Medicaid Fraud Division found that Gentle Dental submitted Medicaid reimbursement claims using the individual Medicaid provider number of her husband, Edward Sledge, DMD; signatures purporting to be from Dr. Sledge; and certification forms stating that Dr. Sledge had performed the medical services in question.

However, those services were actually provided by Carl McGloster, DDS, a dentist hired by Cruz-Sledge to treat patients at the dental practice although he was debarred from participating in the Medicaid program. According to the OSC, Cruz-Sledge admitted to OSC investigators that she signed her husband's name on the reimbursement claim forms submitted to the state even though her husband did not treat the patients. OSC investigators also determined that Cruz-Sledge continued to order new prescription pads under her husband's name long after he became incapacitated.

Read the entire story - http://www.drbicuspid.com/index.aspx?sec=sup&sub=pmt&pag=dis&itemId=312051

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Beekman Group, unloads Gentle Dental on Linden Capital Partners. Just in time?

October 10, 2012

PRESS RELEASE

Harris Williams & Co., a middle market investment bank focused on the advisory needs of clients worldwide, announces the sale of Northwestern Management Services, LLC (NMS) doing business as Gentle Dental (Gentle Dental), a leader in the dental service organization (DSO) industry, to Linden Capital Partners (Linden). Gentle Dental was a portfolio company of The Beekman Group, LLC (TBG). Harris Williams & Co. acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Gentle Dental. The transaction closed on October 5, 2012 and was led by James Clark, Geoff Smith and David Allebach.

“Gentle Dental has established itself as a clear leader in the attractive South Florida dentistry market through its commitment to quality, operational excellence and results-driven approach to physician and practice support. In addition, this transaction demonstrates investors’ continued strong interest in the DSO sector driven by investors’ desire to find scalable business models in markets positioned to benefit from positive demographic trends,” said James Clark, a managing director in Harris Williams & Co.’s Healthcare & Life Sciences (HCLS) Group.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Gentle Dental dentist has had his license suspended by Iowa dental board; gross malpractice; patients in immediate danger

 

The Gazette

commaleftThe Iowa Dental Board has suspended the license of a local dentist after he allegedly gave a patient too much anesthetic and failed to use proper equipment during a procedure.

Order says Safabakhsh gave patient too much anesthetic, failed to use proper equipment

Masih Safabakhsh — whose listed address matches that of Gentle Dental, 1515 Blairs Ferry Road NE – was charged by the board in December 2011 for “failure to maintain a satisfactory standard of competency, and gross malpractice in the practice of dentistry.”

According to a board order dated July 13, Safabakhsh administered an amount of anesthetic to a patient that “far exceeds the maximum dosage.” The patient was later taken to the hospital for a “medical emergency.” Safabakhsh said he regularly used that amount of anesthetic and said he was unaware of current guidelines for dosage. Safabakhsh also allegedly told staff to change a patient’s record to show he used less anesthetic.