You have to check out CSHM-Small Smiles “Quality and Compliance” webpage. Past the list of the overseers, you will find a link that says“For more information, please visit: www.smallsmiles.com/compliance.
Go ahead, click it.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
NBC — Firm That Manages Dental Clinics for Kids Excluded From Medicaid
By Talesha Reynolds
MARCH 12, 2014 - A company that manages a chain of dental clinics once accused of subjecting children to painful and unnecessary procedures and bilking the government for millions of dollars has been notified it will no longer be eligible for reimbursement from federal health care programs like Medicaid, its principal source of revenue.
The company, CSHM, manages 53 clinics nationwide, most of which operate under the name Small Smiles. The clinics treat mostly low-income children in areas where access to dental care is limited.
The Office of the Inspector General of the Department Health and Human Services sent a letter to CSHM on Friday citing multiple breaches to a compliance agreement, which mandates quality of care measures. The breaches included failing to report incidents involving patients at Small Smiles clinics in Tulsa, Okla., and Mattapan, Mass.
The OIG declined to provide further detail on the specific breaches that led to the exclusion.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who last year published a report on corporate dental management companies along with former Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said Monday that the CSHM exclusion notice “will protect both taxpayers and vulnerable children receiving dental care in the Medicaid program.”
Related:
Dental chain accused of hurting kids, bilking taxpayers December 11, 2012
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Dental Group Practice Association installed a new Executive Director last week. Will he work more than 8 hours a week?
Check out the uptick in legal, conference and lobbying expenses. I’m not sure how you can spend that much in a year and not work more than 8 hours a week.
Management fees have also skyrocketed.
CSHM comes out of hiding to issue statement regarding Medicaid Exclusion
CSHM and Small Smiles have been dodging media phone calls for days. They have finally issued a statement; begrudgingly I'm sure.
They say they will appeal. I hear they won't. Hell, they have been appealing since 2010; dang near quarterly.
They have received at least 2 earlier threats to be excluded; maybe three. The report issued last year by Senator Grassley's office basically asked, "how bad do these folks have to be before excluding them. They may appeal just to keep the revenue flowing. But I would think they should be on a Credible Allegation of Fraud pay hold.
CSHM Small Smiles Dental Media Statement 03-11-2014 by Dentist The Menace
Vice Chairman and Ranking Member of House Committee on Energy and Commerce-Oversight and Investigation subcommittee express continued concerns of dental management service companies (DMSOs).
In a letter (see below) to Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) express their continued concerns about “deceptive practices of dental management service companies (DMSOs)”.
They further call on HHS OIG to exclude any corporate dental companies from participating in the Medicaid program, saying, “Based on the report by the Senate Committees and the prior findings of HHS OIG, we concur with our Senate colleagues and recommend that HHS OIG should consider excluding any corporate entity that employs deceptive business practices that result in substandard care, from the Medicaid program.”
Burgess and DeGette are also concerned about the length of time it has taken to bring one of these companies—Small Smiles Dental Centers—to justice.
The letter recounts the history of the Small Smiles investigation, starting with the “2008 investigative news report” by WJLA in Washington. That report actually aired in November 2007; so it’s even worse, right?
The 3 page letter also states:
- “based on evidence undertaken by our offices, we are very concerned that the corporate structure and management of dental clinics often results in a failure to meet basic quality and compliance standards.”
Monday, March 10, 2014
Small Smiles exclusion- Senator Grassley is happy with the “Victory for Accountability”
Grassley: Notice from Inspector General is a Victory for Accountability
March 10, 2014
WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley, senior member and former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, said the decision of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services to disqualify CSHM, LLC from the Medicaid program “will protect both taxpayers and vulnerable children receiving dental care in the Medicaid program.”
The Inspector General delivered a Notice of Exclusion (click here to read the Notice) following a year-long investigation by Grassley and then-Chairman Max Baucus of Montana into allegations of abusive treatment of children in clinics controlled by corporate investors rather than dentists. The senators issued a report and recommendations last July and urged the administration to ban dental clinics from participating in the Medicaid program if the dental clinics circumvent state laws designed to ensure only licensed dentists own dental practices to prevent substandard care.
“Our oversight found that when states can’t hold owners accountable, then clinics are more likely to fail to meet standards that protect the children who should be helped,” Grassley said. “The actions of some dental practices strained the Medicaid program and put low-income children in traumatic, highly questionable situations.”
FINALLY! Small Smiles Dental Centers are EXCLUDED from Medicaid and other Federal health programs!
OMG! OMG! OMG!
After 7 long years of persistence, it’s finally happened! Small Smiles Dental Centers are excluded from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and all Federal Health Care Programs!
Small Smiles Dental Centers - CSHM Exclusion Letter by Dentist The Menace
Let us not forget, the dental centers Quality and Compliance was overseen by:
Dr. Paul Casamassimo
Dr. Arthur Nowak
Dr. Joe Bernat
Dr. Anupama Tate
Dr. Steve Adair
Quality & Compliance - Dental Centers - CSHM by Dentist The Menace
I can’t woo hoo and OMG enough—I’m shaking from head to toe with glee!!!!!
Now, where can I locate a bottle of the “good stuff” Champaign!
Do you own your dental practice?
Let’s say you own your patient’s charts, do you own your dental practice?
Friday, March 07, 2014
Antoine Dental calling for a federal investigation into the judge because their win was overturned. Calling his decision “cut and paste”. What a bunch of cry babies.
Since the Antoine Dental Center's favorable ruling was overturned last week, TDMR, is calling for a Federal investigation into the judge. (God, I hate linking to these people! I think this is a ploy to get me to send them web traffic! LOL Don’t enter a password, it’s a phishing expedition.)
Yes, they want a Federal Investigation into the judge! Talk about cry babies! These guys simply can’t stand defeat. I bet they all got trophies for participation when they were kids.
However, to read about their game plan, you need a password. That’s right, a password. They have this big headline, then tell you to read it, you need their permission. Maybe it’s only a headline? Think?
I'd say an investigation should look at the previous decision of the administrative judges, but I try to give them a break that they just didn’t know what they didn’t know.
Frankly, the more Federal investigations into this the better. What's really odd, is this particular case is over some $400,000. Who spends $2-5 million in attorney fees to recoup that amount? Yeah, this is much bigger than Antoine Dental Centers.
One thing that crosses my mind, is how Dr. James Orr and Bob Anderton trained these dentists how to cheat the system—in Anderton’s own private law office—and now Orr is the “expert” witness for the dentists and Anderton is their attorney. Talk about conflict of interest! Geez! This seems to be more about Orr and Anderton covering their own butts, than it is about Antoine Dental Center’s pay hold.
Currently Orr and Anderton are touring, teaching dentists about—of all things—record keeping!
There is just no way that this is sliced where the attorneys representing Antoine Dental Center and Dr. Nazari have their clients best interest ahead of their own. I almost feel sorry for Nazari. He could have, reached some settlement, taken his slap on the wrist, paid a little fine, and gone on about his business. At worse, a few months jail time; he would have gotten more sleep there than I bet he’s getting these days. I believe he is being coerced. Pure craziness.
Where’s the popcorn?
Thursday, March 06, 2014
Analysis of ADC vs. Texas Health and Human Services Commission
Analysis of ADC vs. Texas Health and Human Services Commission
March 6, 2014 -- Why should anyone care about a dental Medicaid ruling from an administrative law court in Travis County in Texas? One reason is that this case involves several millions of taxpayer dollars. Other similar cases brought before this court of alleged dental Medicaid fraud and abuses have and will involve taxpayer money, in excess of $100 million.
The vast majority of dental Medicaid fraud cases are generally resolved in settlement agreements. Alleged violators usually pay some amount of restitution to the government in exchange for no admission of wrongdoing. Often, the alleged violators return to "business as usual." We, the public and dental profession, receive little or no data on case specifics. Records of investigations are sealed upon settlement.
Public record disclosure of this particular case exposed some of the dark underbelly of the dental Medicaid industry, along with some of its nefarious inner workings.