Significance of Criminal Indictment to Dr. Edward R. Hills

Significance of Criminal Indictment to Dr. Edward R. Hills

By: Michael W. Davis, DDS, Guest Contributor

Dr. Michael W. Davis maintains a private general practice in Santa Fe, NM. He also advocates for disadvantaged citizens, and provides expert legal work for numbers of attorney clients. His publications and lectures are on ethical and whistleblower issues within the dental profession, as well as numbers of clinical research papers. 
 
 
 

Dr. Edward R. Hills was formally indicted on October, 19, 2016, by the US Justice Department for a variety of alleged criminal violations, in US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio (Eastern Division). Co-defendants included three other dentists, Drs. Sari Alqsous, Yazan B. Al-Madani, and Tariq Sayegh. The government contends Dr. Hills and other defendants engaged in a variety of actions inclusive of Medicaid fraud, bribery, extortion, interference in a federal investigation, witness tampering, tax fraud, defrauding of a non-profit hospital, an interstate kickback scheme, and racketeering. The government also invoked claims of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act) violations. The indictment was laid out similarly to an action against an organized crime figure and their subordinate mob crew. [Click here to read 93-page, 33-count indictment: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3178765/MetroHealth-Indictment.pdf ]
 
Dr. Hills formerly served as chief operations officer (COO) for Cleveland’s MetroHealth Hospitals from 2010-2014. During that tenure, his salary ranged from over $400,000 to just under $3/4 Mil per year. He also served for 6-months as interim chief executive officer (CEO), following a previous scandal and resignation by Mark Moran at MetroHealth. In this capacity, Dr. Hills had direct supervisory control of the dental residency post-graduate program (which the three other defendants directly ran). Dr. Hills also served on the Ohio State Dental Board from 1999-2008. From 2001-2004, Dr. Hills was the president of the state dental board.

Alleged Extortion of Dental Residents
The government contends foreign national doctors were shaken down (extorted) for cash to apply to the dental residency program at MetroHealth. They were further extorted for additional cash to maintain their dental residency positions. Residents were also forced to work for no compensation, at two private clinics owned and operated by two of the defendants (Noble Dental Clinic & Buckeye Family Dental).

Many of the dental resident doctors were Jordanian citizens, and required an H1B (green card) work visa to obtain an Ohio dental license. Without a green card visa sponsored by an employer (Dr. Hills and/or his crew), these doctors were not eligible for licensure, as they were not US citizens. Obviously, these dental resident doctors were in a particularly vulnerable position.

Double Dipping
Two dentists of Dr. Hills’ crew were allegedly accepting full-time incomes from MetroHealth, as preceptors of the dental residency program, and at the same time running two large scale private dental practices. These were the same private dental clinics were resident doctors were allegedly required to deliver patient dental care, without compensation. These same two crew members allegedly benefited unlawfully, by having MetroHealth fully pay their malpractice insurance premiums.

Dr. Hills allegedly authorized substantial bonuses from accounts at MetroHealth for these two alleged dentist conspirators, in their frequently no-show supervisor jobs (under $93,000 in 4 years). In exchange, payoffs were allegedly afforded Dr. Hills. Kickbacks allegedly included a lap-top and an apartment to entertain Dr. Hills’ girlfriend, bedroom furniture, cash (hundreds of thousands of dollars), a Louis Vuitton briefcase, airplane tickets for the lovers, a flat screen TV, and controlled prescription medications (exact medication name redacted from indictment).

Lawsuit Filed Against Dr. Michael Melanson et. al. Over Death of 14 Month Old Daisy Lynn Torres

 

 

 

Thursday, March 02, 2017 09:26AM

AUSTIN, TX (KTRK) --

The family of the 14-month-old girl who died after a visit to the dentist has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Austin Children's Dentistry.

The toddler died while under anesthesia for multiple baby root canals and crowns on four of her teeth.

Her parents believe it was part of a Medicaid scam and are suing the dentist and the anesthesiologist who worked on her.
The cause of death of Daisy Lynn Torres, who died on March 29, 2016, was determined to be the result of anesthesia administered for the treatment of tooth decay, according to the Medical Examiner's Office.

"We haven't heard much, so we are kind of just taking action here, getting some answers so we can get some justice going on," said Elizandro Torres, Daisy Lynn's father. "We want this to be heard so that it doesn't happen again." …

 

…The lawsuit claims the girl's death was part of a corporate scheme to bill Medicaid for unnecessary dental procedures. Her parents are now suing for $1 million. Their attorney, Sean Breen, told us Tuesday night they hope this lawsuit will protect other children from the dangers of pediatric predators and their money-making schemes.

"A big component of people that use Medicaid happens to be people who are low income and sometimes not as formally educated as others and they make for very good targets because they are trusting," said Breen, with Howry Breen & Herman.

Breen says other families have come forward saying their children were also underwent unnecessary dental work at Austin Children's Dentistry…

Read the entire ABC 13 story here.

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More on Dr. Michael Melanson

Dr. Melanson was the fake owner dentist for non-dentist Brian Lynne Walker who owns North End Healthcare, LLC. North End owns and operates 3 ambulatory surgery centers (ASC): Houston Children’s Dental Center, San Antonio Children’s Surgical, and DFW Children’s Surgery Center. All designed exclusively for sedation dental procedures. In fact the website of these clinics list their “privileged” providers and they are only dentists, oral surgeons and endodontists. April 29, 2016, exactly 30 days of the death of Daisy Torres, North End Healthcare began to change its name to Blue Cloud Pediatric Surgery Centers and scrub Dr. Michael Melanson’s name from their website;, replacing Melanson with Dr. Ketan Sukkawala as “owner”.

Being Melanson works for a group that owns surgery centers one must wonder why he didn’t use one of those facilities. Or at the very least understand the need to sedate babies somewhere other than his office!

Corporate Healthcare: Important Contracts

January 1, 2017 Written by Michael W. Davis, DDS

There exist 3 common contracts doctors sign with corporate dentistry. These include employment contracts, purchase sales agreements, and business service agreements (BSAs). Each of these contracts may be peppered with legal landmines. It is imperative that doctors accept that their expertise is patient care, and not swimming with the sharks of corporate healthcare. Nothing in corporate business negotiation can be taken at face value. This is not a relationship based on mutual trust and respect, as in the doctor-patient relationship, or when working with a specialist colleague. Corporate interest is almost exclusively directed at the financial welfare of investors. By contrast, a doctor’s focus should be his or her patients’ best welfare. The conflict of interest is self-evident.

It is advisable for dentists to secure the services of highly capable legal counsel before entering into such agreements. The attorney should have a solid background in corporate healthcare employment and contract law, especially in the dental service organization (DSO) industry. These are not well-intended local attorneys who may also spread their time between divorce law and personal injury cases. The DSO industry retains the best legal counsel that money can buy. You need to be on a somewhat equal footing.

EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS
Legal counsel advice is invaluable with employment contracts. Attorneys may tell you from the onset their personal knowledge of the reputation of a corporate employer, saving you headaches later. Some employers are quite hostile toward employee doctors, as contracts may be routinely dishonored, and workplace abuses abound. In this case, you need to immediately walk away.

Read the entire article here

Put dental patients’ care ahead of corporate profits

By Jennifer King  Jan 30, 2017

Debate in Olympia regarding operation of corporate dental chains might seem to matter only to those directly involved, with little impact on the public in Yakima.

That’s not the case. The outcome will have a dramatic impact on the quality of care received by dental patients here and across the state.

Corporate chains, or Dental Service Organizations (DSOs), operate in Washington under names like Aspen Dental, Modern Dental, Bright Now, and Gentle Dental. But they do so in a gray area outside of the oversight of the state regulators.

They’re now pushing legislation to give themselves virtually unlimited authority to continue operating here, with no regulatory oversight.

As a practicing dentist, this worries me. Not because corporate chains represent new competition, and not because there’s anything inherently wrong with a dentist contracting for administrative support. As dentists, we should be open to models than deliver better patient care.

But that’s not the case with DSOs. Based on my 18 years of practice, the best care results when decisions are made solely by the patient and his or her dentist. Interference in the doctor-patient relationship by third party, for-profit corporations can lead to inferior care or overtreatment, or both, and should not be allowed.

Read the entire article by Dr. Jennifer King here

WTH! DentaQuest Texas Offer’s $10 Walmart Gift Cards

DentaQuest Texas, yes the same one that ran for the hills just two years ago is back and offering $10 WalMart card to patients! Besides being an MCO don’t they also own some clinics? Didn’t MB2 just get nailed for this same practice? What am I missing? They aren’t offering it in NM, or TN or CO, or any other place I can find. Only Texas.

In 2011 the MB2 Dental Solution clinics brought in roughly $50,000,000.00 seeing roughly 350,000 patients.

Maybe they just didn’t have this sign up at the time.  The hotline number could be the direct line to payroll to request a bonus check too, I suppose.

Excluded and Unlicensed New Jersey Dentist Who Assumed Identity of Another Dentist Agrees to Settlement of $1.1 Million and 50-Year Exclusion to Resolve Civil Monetary Penalty Case

January 23, 2017

Contact: HHS OIG Media Communications
Media@OIG.HHS.GOV

Washington, DC - Unlicensed New Jersey dentist Roben Brookhim agreed to pay $1.1 million and accept a 50-year exclusion from participating in Federal health care programs as part of a settlement to resolve his administrative liability for presenting false claims to Medicaid, billing for services furnished by an excluded person, and owning and controlling a Medicaid-participating entity while he was excluded, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today.

"Fifty years is one of the longest exclusion periods ever imposed by our office," said Gregory E. Demske, Chief Counsel to the HHS Inspector General. "This period of exclusion, coupled with the significant monetary recovery, is an appropriate resolution for an individual who went to such great lengths to defraud a Federal health care program and put patients at risk," said Demske.

OIG alleged that from November 2005 through October 2012, Brookhim owned, controlled, and managed Associated Dental NP, LLC (ADNP), a New Jersey dental practice with multiple locations, in violation of his exclusion from Federal health care program participation in August 2000.

3rd Grader’s Teeth Removed at School by Mobile Dental Clinic; Then Had to Walk Home!

Outrageous? Indeed it is! Sadly I still hear these stories about children, in essence, tortured by unexpectedly having teeth removed by these school dental programs.  This time it’s in Baltimore. Although it’s unclear, in my opinion it’s very likely Reachout Healthcare’s Smile America Partners that is owned by Morgan Stanley investments.  I would love to see the permission slips sent home to parents. If anyone has one, please email to cckaddie@yahoo.com

Other websites include:

mobiledentists.com
smileamericapartners.com

From Smiles Programs website:

Smile Programs is currently active in 24 states and has ongoing strategic partnerships with Detroit Public Schools, Chicago Public Schools, the School District of Philadelphia, Boston Public Schools, Baltimore City Public Schools, Indianapolis Public Schools, Cleveland Public Schools, LA Unified Schools, Prince George's County Public Schools, Washington DC Public Charter Schools, Phoenix Area Public Schools, and St. Louis Pubic Schools as well as many others.

 

 

Mom Outraged, School Dental Program Removes Child’s Teeth Without Her Knowing

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A mother is outraged after her third grader came home from school with three of his teeth missing. She says his elementary school performed a dental procedure she never knew about.

A Baltimore City mom is looking for answers: Why did the school allow serious dental work — without making a single phone call to parents.

9-year-old Michael is still brought to tears by the pain. He’s now missing three teeth — pulled out by a dental program visiting his school. His mother, Shanda Flemming, tells WJZ she never was notified that the procedure was happening.

“And then two on this side. One top and one bottom,” says Flemming.

Baltimore City Schools says Flemming signed a permission slip, but Flemming thought it was for routine cleanings.

“I’m angry about this. I don’t think that it should have happened like that,” says Flemming.

She says she was blindsided when Michael came home with a swollen mouth.

“They just said they was gonna clean my teeth,” says Michael.

Read Entire Story Here

Washington State Senator Ann Rivers Working Hard to Legalize the Already Operating DSO’s in Her State with SB 5158

It appears Washington State’s Senate Healthcare chairperson Senator Ann Rivers (R) is trying to legalize the illegal activity already taking place in Washington by introducing SB 5158 in the 2017 Session. Sen. Rivers represents, the 18th district, which happens to also be the hotbed of many DSO’s which are still considered to be practicing illegally by the current Washington law. Sponsors of the Bill besides Rivers are Senators Annette Cleveland (D) and Karen Keiser (D).

Rivers gave her bill a hearing January 19, 2017, introducing it by stating “I don’t think it is government’s job to outline the type of business structures that can exist.” She forgets, however, that the role of government is to also protect its citizens by only allowing dentists to practice dentistry. (I wonder if a racketeering business structure is also a type that government should not outline)

At the hearing Senator Rivers stated a lot of her motivation (her words, not mine) was about “young dentist starting out have an organization that they can slip into if they’ve got significant debt” and she also wants to “make sure patients have a place they can go on Saturdays”

HUH?

MB2 Dental Solutions Alaska Operations

After the settlement with MB2 Dental Solutions and Chris Villanueva, DDS et. al. I noticed a couple of states not mentioned: Alaska and Tennessee. Well, you can guess what happened then—I just had to see how much they continued to expand their business model while under investigation. What I found in Alaska was at least 3 dental clinics and 1 real estate company.

Let’s begin.

1. Frost Dental-Anchorage
3024 Mountain View Dr, Suite 107
Anchorage, AK 99501
Gentry Toone, DDS

This one was formed in May of 2016. The NPI record for Frost Dental-Anchorage states Mary Pu is VP of Finance and the mailing address is…wait for it…wait for it…2403 Lacy Ln, Carrollton, TX.  I know, right! You thought what I did—that’s the same address as MB2! Did you notice the email address, frostanchorage@mb2dental.com? Remember, Mary Pu is Trung Tang’s wife. Tang being a major player—and classmate—of Villanueva.

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2. True North Family Dental
3708 Rhone Circle
Anchorage, AK 99508
Gentry Toone, DDS

 

 

 

True North used to be owned Charles Michael Sage, DDS, Sr. under the shingle of Alaska Center for Dentistry Anchorage, until he retired in 2014.  His son, Charles Michael Sage, DDS, Jr. operated Alaska Center for Dentistry in Wasilla until he turned it over to MB2 cohorts. C. Michael Sage, DDS, Jr continues to see patients at both clinics according to the respective websites.

True North Family Dental is owned by South Anchorage Family Dentistry, LLC, mailing address is that of MB2 in Carrollton, Texas.

South Anchorage Family Dental is supposedly owned by Gentry Toone, mailing address is that of MB2. Justin Puckett is the Organizer, with documents filed by one Mary Pu.

Whether MB2 owns Alaska Center for Dentistry Anchorage in Wasilla, is unclear. However, the two associate dentists working at the Wasilla location are husband and wife with ties to Texas. In addition, MB2 operated Sage Dental clinics, so who knows. Just between you and me, I say “yes”.

Did you note the email address for True North Family Dental? truenorth@mb2dental.com