Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS)–Raising capital for more dental center purchases?

July 3, 2012
Today OMERS is in the news because it sold a hunk of it’s private equity funds investments to AXA for $850-million.  OMERS says it likes “direct” investment much better. Citing – “direct investments give it more control over its assets than investments through third-party private equity funds, and keep investment costs lower.”

 In October 2011 Canadian OMERS purchased Great Expressions Dental Centers (GEDC) from Audax .

In March 2012, OMERS again put its money where your mouth is, with the purchase of Exceldent. Which added another 19 private equity owned dental centers to NY, CT and NJ.

Related -

About OMERS Private Equity
Operating under the OMERS Worldwide brand, OMERS Private Equity manages the private equity activities of OMERS and has over $6.3 billion of investments under management. The group’s investment strategy includes the active ownership of businesses in North America and Europe. OMERS Private Equity is headquartered in Toronto, with offices in New York and London. For further information visit: www.omerspe.com.

About OMERS
OMERS is one of Canada’s largest pension funds with over $55.1 billion in net assets. It provides first-class pension administration and innovative products and services to almost 420,000 members. Approximately one in every 20 employees working in the province of Ontario is an OMERS member. Through the OMERS Worldwide brand, our team of investment professionals uses a direct drive, active management investment strategy to invest in public and private market assets, including publicly-traded equities, fixed-income, infrastructure, private equity and real estate. For more information, please visit www.omers.com, or www.omersworldwide.com

 

21 Oct 2011

US private equity firm Audax has sold Great Expressions Dental Centers (GEDC) to OMERS Private Equity for an undisclosed sum.

Headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, GEDC is a dental practice management company that provides general and specialty dental services through 152 affiliated practices in Michigan, Georgia, Florida, Massachusetts, Ohio, Virginia and Connecticut.

The company was founded in 1982 by Dr Knysz, who served as chairman. Audax acquired a majority interest from Dr Knysz in May 2008 and, along with management, subsequently sourced and integrated ten add-on acquisitions.

Geoffrey Rehnert, co-CEO of Audax, said, “Rich Beckman and his management team did a terrific job working with us to build the company through add-on acquisitions and by establishing best practices across the company.

“We implemented financial controls and reporting systems to improve operating efficiencies, enabling affiliated dental providers to remain focused on patient care and clinical excellence. We wish Rich and his team continued success,” he added.

Small Smiles Dental Changing It’s Ways… HA! –that’s what they said the last time they changed their name, and the time before that and the time before that…

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

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.

Small Smiles Dental attorney's, King and Spalding, respond to Senator Grassley’s Investigators - November 29, 2011

Second response letter from Small Smiles Dental Centers to Senator Grassley’s Investigators - December 16, 2011

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

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.

Read the rest at MSN.com

Bill Brigham – Chief Operating Officer for Kool Smiles Dental Centers is said to have “resigned”.

Coming two days after scathing exposé by FRONTLINE and the Center for Public Integrity of the fraud, child abuse and corruption at Kool Smiles Dental Centers and NCDR, LLC.

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.

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:

Bloomberg reports on Private Equity Dental Chains thus far in 2012

 

To READ:

by Sydney Freedberg - sfreedberg@bloomberg.net.

Dental Abuse of U.S. Poor Dodges Ejection from Medicaid – June 26, 2012 The latest from Bloomberg demonstrates how the OIG is still turning it’s head to the child abuse for fraud, at Small Smiles Dental Centers. This one is outrageous. They ask CSHM to put the clinic in the name of a third party. Well, according to CSHM sworn testimony on numerous occasions, by various Small Smiles Executives they don’t own the clinics. Their mantra is that they only manage them for already third party dentists. The take away is  that the OIG. HHS and DOJ are fully aware (how could they not be) that the true owners of these houses of horrors is CSHM and it’s Private Equity backers. They must simply give them a wink and a nod to falsifying documents, committing fraud, and perjury, just to name a few illegal acts. These would land you or I in jail, by the way.  I don’t know what else a person could think. Do you? Republicans Hit Dental Bill That Private Equity Hates – June 1, 2012 Dental Abuse Seen Driven by Private Equity Investments – May 16, 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:

• Dental Investigations

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

Bio | Email

WFAA

FRONTLINE–Center for Public Integrity Investigation into dentistry in America

 

WATCH: Dollars and Dentists – June 26, 2012    READ: Sen. Grassley Investigating Abuse at Corporate Dental Chains – July 2, 2012 How The Supreme Court’s Ruling Affects Dental Care -  June 28, 2012 Aspen Dental CEO Bob Fontana: “We’re Big Advocates for the Patient” -June 26, 2012 Kool Smiles Response – June 26, 2012 American Dental Association Response to FRONTLINE “Dollars and Dentists” – June 27, 2012 Senator Chuck Grassley’s Response – Report on Findings Expected – June 27, 2012 Dr. Bill Calnon: Why Dentistry Needs More Prevention, Not More Treaters - June 26, 2012 Dental Professionals Speak Out About America’s Care Crisis – June 27, 2012 How To Fix A Broken Dental Safety Net – June 27, 2012 When the Dentist Won’t See You – June 25, 2012 Do You Live in a Dental Desert? – June 27, 2012 America’s Dental Care Crisis – June 19, 2012