If Pigs Could Fly And Dental Professionals Could Be Turned Bad By Private Equity Investment
Thomas A. Climo
A NONSENSE ARGUMENT MORE IN TUNE WITH LOBBYING THAN COMMON SENSE
On May 30, 2012, DrBicuspid.com provided an article written by Donna Domino, features editor. It was titled “Private equity firms eye big profits in dentistry.” Ms. Domino was the second journalist to reach out to me that month. The first was Sydney Freedberg of Bloomsberg, whose piece was “Dental abuse seen driven by private equity investments” on May 16.
Both journalists were nice, courteous, and consummate professionals. I want to make clear that although I believe I was very helpful in providing them with data and insight from my consulting of both group and solo dental practices, I did not say one negative word about private equity investment into dentistry.
A third journalist, Josh Kosman of the New York Post, will confirm this, even though he also wrote an article with the provocative title that replaced an “S” with a “$” entitled “Private equity firms $ink teeth into dentistry,” published August 27, 2010.
The exaggerations contained in all three articles tying private equity investment to bad dentistry are only anecdotal, and not supported by serious statistical numbers.
But…but…but “Equivalent PhD, Climo, you said, and I’ll quote:
“…private-equity firms are likely to work dentists longer once they take over practices to boost profits and that could lead to worse service.”
