On Monday October 15, 2012, Dr. Diane Coopwood Earle, DDS, Senior Regional Dental Director of Kool Smiles Dental centers gave a 4 page statement, and subsequent testimony before the Texas House of Representatives committee on Public Health.
Summary of her statement:
- She’s been a licensed dentist in Texas for 30 years.
- Kool Smiles has 38 offices in Texas.They employee 85 dentists in 38 offices in Texas (only 34 show up in 2011 data).
- All 38 Kool Smiles are owned by dentists.(Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!)
- All clinical and patient treatment decisions are made by the treating dentist
- NCDR, LLC handles non-clinical administrative, critical business support and purchasing. (more lies including the fact, only licensed medical professionals are legally able to purchase many medical supplies)
- DSO’s are “innovative” business models. (Bernie Madoff too was “innovative”)
- As a dentist, DSO’s help her do what she “does best – providing high quality dental care to my patients and spending more time with them.” (she billed Texas for performing 833 procedures on 643 patients in 2011, that’s about 12 patients a week.)
- Non-clinical leaders “DO NOT interfere with clinical decisions of the dentists”
- She has “NEVER been told by a corporation or corporate entity how to treat our patients.” (I bet that statement comes back to bite her in the ass)
- “Without that necessary separation between delivery of professional quality dental care and administrative support, the model would not work.” (this will be another bite on the back side, I bet)