Small Smiles is saying it’s changed it’s ways, I beg to differ, since we’ve heard that before…several times. 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!!!!
It’s changed it’s name a few times, but not it’s ways!
Struggling dental chain looks to mend its ways
By Rob Goszkowski, Assistant Editor
July 4, 2012 -- Church Street Health Management, a private-equity-backed company managing 63 dental centers under various "Smiles" brands in 21 U.S. states, has emerged from bankruptcy with new owners, a new identity, and a new strategy for staying in the dental game.
Now going by the moniker CSHM, the company has a history of legal problems that forced it to file for bankruptcy earlier this year and prompted additional federal scrutiny.
For example, in January 2010, while still known as Forba Holdings, the company paid $24 million plus interest to settle allegations of Medicaid fraud with 22 states and the U.S. Department of Justice. The fine resulted in part from a policy of "converting" patients, whereby dentists were systematically urged to perform additional procedures and the number of procedures performed was tracked.
Read the rest over on Dr. Bicuspid
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
Senators Chuck Grassley and Senator Max Baucus inquire into illegal ownership of dental chains.
Did the Senators get nothing but lies from Small Smiles Dental, Kool Smiles Dental, Reachout Healthcare America, and Aspen? I'll let you decide.
Kool Smiles Dental responds to Senators Grassley and Baucus Inquiry - February 3, 2012
Reachout Healthcare America responds to Senators Grassley and Baucus inquiry- February 23, 2012
Reachout Healthcare America's second response to Senators Grassley and Baucus - March 22, 2012
Aspen Dental response to Senators Grassley and Baucus inquiry -February 13, 2012
Aspen Dental's second response to Senators Grassley and Baucus - April 18, 2012
Sunday, July 01, 2012
Aspen Dental Defrauding the poor and elderly esposed
$2,540 for 2 fillings? Poor hit by high fees at chain
By David Heath
The Center for Public Integrity
updated 7/1/2012 2:41:00 PM ET
Surviving on a meager $1,300 a month, 87-year-old Theresa Ferritto fretted about the cost when her dentist told her she needed two teeth pulled.
She figured an oral surgeon would be too expensive. So she decided to try out a dental chain that promoted steep discounts in its advertisements. She went to an Aspen Dental office just outside Cleveland.
Ferritto said Aspen Dental wouldn’t just pull the teeth but insisted on a complete exam. She was bewildered when they finally handed her a treatment planfour pages long. Total price: $7,835.
Ferritto could not afford it, but Aspen Dental signed her up for a special credit card
, with monthly payments of $186 for five years. She blames herself for signing the papers.
“I made a big mistake going there,” she says. “I should have known better.”
After a day of cleanings and two fillings, Ferritto asked her son for help. He called Aspen Dental to complain but said he got nowhere. So they turned to the state Attorney General.
Aspen Dental took all charges off her credit card for treatments she hadn’t yet received. But said the $2,540 she was charged for two fillings and cleanings was appropriate.
Bill Brigham – Chief Operating Officer for Kool Smiles Dental Centers is said to have “resigned”.
Of course I’m not 100% sure, but I’m “pretty dang sure”, he’s gone.
Bill has been with Kool Smiles since 2007, so his hands are plenty dirty one would suspect. Where was he before Kool Smiles Dental? He was with Kohls, Home Depot, Macy’s and Belk’s department stores.
(me shaking head)
I don’t think there would have been much fan fair as he slithered out the back door, do you?
Should we be on bankruptcy watch? Maybe so.
Bill Brigham - Former COO of Kool Smiles Dental Centers
Academy of General Dentistry and American Dental Association Responces to “Dollars and Dentists” Program on PBS
Considering the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) and the American Dental Association (ADA) are in the same building in downtown Chicago, my mouth actually fell open when I read this statement from the AGD.
Academy of General Dentistry Responds to “Dollars and Dentists” Program on PBS
Chicago (June 27, 2012)—On Tuesday, June 26, the PBS “Frontline” documentary series aired “Dollars and Dentists,” a special program that investigated what it referred to as the “broken nature of the dental care system” in the U.S. According to the PBS piece, more than 100 million Americans currently do not have dental insurance and cannot afford treatment. “Dollars and Dentists” attributed this lack of patient care to the Medicaid system, stating that it did not provide enough of a profit margin to dentists treating children at Medicaid rates. The segment implied that there are very few solutions available to solve this access to care problem. However, extensive analysis conducted by the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) and other dental organizations has found that this is not the case.
“Dollars and Dentists” showcased the plusses and minuses of high-production dental franchises, which many claim will help to decrease the cost of care for Medicaid rates. The AGD shares the concerns voiced by “Frontline” that, as a business model, dental franchises that focus on quantity before quality may not be in the public’s best interest.
“I am concerned by business models that emphasize production quotas and do not individualize treatment for every patient,” says AGD President Jeffrey M. Cole, DDS, MBA, FAGD. “The focus becomes the company’s revenue rather than personalized care. Each patient deserves the type of time and attention provided by the traditional dental team business model, which promotes better oral health.”
In the “Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) Barriers and Solutions to Accessing Care” white paper, the AGD renews its call for proven dental care solutions and quality care, which were originally outlined in its 2008 “White Paper on Increasing Access to and Utilization of Oral Health Services.” The AGD calls for an increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates, greater efforts to improve oral health literacy and education, expansion of water fluoridation, and the creation of loan forgiveness programs for dentists working in underserved areas, among numerous other solutions that preserve the focus of providing quality care to each individual patient.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Polly “Wanna Crack Her” Buckey Remix
You can't hide your lyin eyes
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now you'd realize
There ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes
There ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes
Honey, you can't hide your lyin' eyes – The Eagles
All joking aside, there is no way you can miss when she’s lying. The corner of her mouth pulls to the left, she looks to the right, and her voice is deep and raspy. (shaky)… and she gets that whacked out look on her face.
What I’m wondering is why Dr. David M. Strange has stopped putting his family at risk by going on TV and lying. Maybe it’s because, even though she sucks at it, she is the one willing to risk it all to do it.
There is a lot of hoopla over the FRONTLINE and Center of Public Integrity investigation, which is well deserved. But all the allegations are not new. These same allegation have been hitting regional and local news stations for years.!
Reports have landed in the local press and on local news stations since at least 2008. It is 2012, right? Is anyone listening to these parents; to these employees?
Here are some of the reports:
Friday, June 29, 2012
Bloomberg reports on Private Equity Dental Chains thus far in 2012
 | To READ: |
| by Sydney Freedberg - sfreedberg@bloomberg.net. |
|
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Texas Attorney General Lawsuit–Dr. Richard Malouf–All Smiles Dental Centers
Texas AG lawsuits spurred by WFAA dental investigation
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 12:38 PM
Updated today at 9:40 AM
Related:
DALLAS - A year-long WFAA investigation into questionable Medicaid dental payments has resulted in the Texas Attorney General filing lawsuits this week.
Greg Abbott charges that a Dallas dentist and his corporate entities bilked taxpayers out of millions for fraudulent orthodontic work on poor families.
Dallas dentist Richard Malouf amassed a multi-million dollar mansion, corporate jets and luxury vehicles through his dentistry, News 8 has found.
He and his former firm, All Smiles, declared bankruptcy following a series of reports detailing how he and other dentists around Texas gamed the welfare system by billing for unnecessary dental work.
WFAA found that over the past few years, Texas has paid out more in Medicaid orthodontic claims than all other 49 states combined.
All Smiles billed Medicaid for at least $15 million over two years, which is twice as much as the entire state of Illinois. The Attorney General’s lawsuits, filed in Austin Monday, seek to recoup “two times the amount of the overpayments.”
WFAA’s findings have spurred outrage among lawmakers and hearings in Austin and Washington D.C.
Madelayne Castillo, a former All Smiles employee, and Dallas orthodontist Dr. Christine Ellis filed separate whistleblower lawsuits in April and May alleging fraud by Malouf and his corporations.
Both lawsuits remained sealed while the Attorney General’s office investigated the claims. On Monday, Abbott’s office joined those lawsuits by refiling them in the state's name.
In April, Dr. Ellis testified before the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee that Malouf and other dentists were responsible for “flagrancy of fraud that is truly unbelievable."
In May, WFAA reported that All Smiles bankruptcy documents showed that Malouf owns 28 percent of the company, and Valor Equity of Chicago had the remaining 72 percent.
A subsidiary of Valor is a named defendant in one of the Attorney General’s suits.
Abbott alleges Malouf and others violated of the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act.“The defendants knowingly or intentionally submitted false information, and misrepresented material facts, when seeking prior approval for orthodontic services,” the lawsuit states.
“Defendants submitted claims for services which they did not provide, and misrepresented or concealed the true nature of the services which they provided,” it states.
“Defendants also knowingly paid or received consideration as a condition of the provision of dental/orthodontic services by unlawful recruiting and paying kickbacks for the recruiting of Medicaid clients,” it continues.
The suits allege that Malouf and the other defendants billed for work that was not medically necessary, and in some cases, performed it with unqualified dental workers. They also “upcoded,” or billed for orthodontics which were more expensive than what was actually provided, the suit states.by BYRON HARRIS and JASON TRAHAN
WFAA
FRONTLINE–Center for Public Integrity Investigation into dentistry in America
![frontline[6]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCWKEtP1Xsi3Y_Nf-9bgmgJdNZjnsIF7AVRvewc2ea0EegBYfRDH-FYl-c_xo6_fOpn1R_6EKY7jSzFoRo8vTGfpRRjHaz1GwwKFANREeqvldAPMGd0VkDxfyl5P2K4d-A3jM/?imgmax=800 "frontline[6]") | WATCH:
READ:
|
Compromise Reach in North Carolina Dental Board of Examiners v Private Equity Dental Chains: NC residents lose
Detente reached in dental dustup
June 27, 2012 2:53 PM
Raleigh, N.C. — A high profile legislative battle -- complete with television ads and attention from federal bureaucrats -- between various groups of dentists has ended in compromise.
The North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners and the state's Dental Society had been pushing a bill that would limit dentistry management arrangements. Under those agreements, dentists affiliate with companies that handle certain aspects of their business.
Some of those agreements ceded too much power to the corporations, members of the board and society said. They worried that corporate officials based in other states would make treatment and scheduling decisions for the dentists.
But the dental management companies and dentists allied with them said the board was interfering in private businesses. They said DMAs give younger dentists trying to open a practice and older dentists winding down their work options that lone practitioners don't have.
"The DMA organizations are going to grow," Dr. Alec Parker, executive director of the dental society, said today. "We just want to make sure their growth includes patient protections."
The House Health and Human Services Committee approved a much shorter bill than the society had originally sought. Language in early versions of the bill that would have given the dental board sweeping policy powers -- such as being able to scrutinize business records -- were not included in the compromise bill.
Existing dental board rules will be allowed to stand, but both sides agreed to create a task force that would recommend changes that would accommodate new business arrangements.
Representatives from both sides say they expect that task force and the dental board to hammer out a revised set of rules to the liking of all parties and avoid a return trip to the General Assembly.
Over the past several months, both the dental society and the Alliance for Access to Dental Care, a group funded by dental management executives, aired hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of television ads.
Advocates fighting for the bill painted the fight as one that pitted dentists in traditional practices against big corporations funded by private equity groups more concerned with making money than providing quality care. Dental management firms hit back that old-school dentists were trying to limit competition as thousands of North Carolina residents went without affordable dental care.
Lobbying was intense and involved well known figures in the national Republican Party such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission weighed in, saying the bill first proposed by the Dental Society would have improperly cut down on competition and consumer choice.
"The tensions between both groups will be considerably less," said Tom Fetzer, the alliance's lead lobbyist in Raleigh.
Making the negotiations even touchier was the push and pull between members of the legislature who were dentists and the stated goal of most Republicans to cut back on regulations.
"It is in the best interest of all parties that the law be clarified," said Rep. Bert Jones, R-Rockingham, a dentist and one of the members tasked with helping both sides find consensus.
In addition to creating a task force, the bill also redefines terms in dental regulations and clarifies how and when the dental board can exercise oversight powers over dentists entering into dental management contracts.
The full House is expected to hear the bill Wednesday afternoon.