Patients, think your dentist has any influence as to how your “Affordable Dentures” are made? Think again.

Patients, think your dentist has any influence as to how your Affordable Care dentures are made, since they are made “in-house’?  Think again.

Affordable Care Sends Goon Squad to Evict Dentist in Louisiana. WHAT?

In a lawsuit filed on November 27, 2017 in Louisiana Federal Court, Affordable Care (Affordable Dentures) is accused of:

Illegal Eviction
Intentional Effliction of Emotion
Interruption of business
Defamation
Breach of Contract
Unfair Competition
Tortious Interference with Contract between Doctor and Patient
Illegal Practice of Dentistry

Excerpts from the Complaint (Civil Action 17-13015) :

Agents?  Whoa!! Sounds more like a goon squad to me, but what do I know?

Full text of Complaint below:

Doc 1 Complaint-Coleman v Affordable Care 171127 by Dentist The Menace on Scribd

Link to revealing Contracts and Agreements in regards to Affordable Care and Exhibits in Louisiana lawsuit.

Doc 1-1 – Purchase Agreement Exhibit

Doc 1-2 – Lease Agreement Exhibit

Doc 1-3 – License Agreement Exhibit

Doc 1-4 – Affordable Care Management Service Agreement

Doc 1-5 – Revenue From Patient Financing Chart

Why is Mark Birner of BDMS/Perfect Teeth, a DSO in Colorado, leading his name and dental licenses to Affordable Care, a DSO in North Carolina?

On May 30, 2017, an entity was registered in New Jersey called, Dr. Birner, PA.  The Manager being Mark Birner.

The “Incorporator” was Sonia Surasky, a paralegal for Affordable Care dba Affordable Dentures and Implants, headquartered in Raleigh, North Caronlina.

The mailing address for Dr. Birner, PA is 156 West State Street, Trenton, NJ, home of State Street Partners, a lobbying firm!

In a legal case recently filed in New Jersery against Affordable Care (which I will get into later),

Affordable Care says it assigned its lease to certain clinics in New Jersey to Dr. Birner, PA.on June 5, 2017.

Excerpts from Exhibit B:

What’s this? A Management Agreement between Dr. Birner, PA and Affordable Care?

Sounds to me that Dr. Birner, PA has complete control of the Premises yet Affordable Care is still the landlord of the dental practice. Huh? I think this is not just double speak, it’s triple speak.

WHAT? But the dentist has spent nearly $200,000.00 to purchase the equipment, furnshings, and other assets”.

Ah Ha!  Mark Birner, owner of Birner Dental Managements (a DSO) operating as Perfect Teeth, is lending his name and dental license to be the “designated dentist” who supposedly leases the premises where yet another dentist operates an Affordable Dentures clinic.

Just my opinion of course but looks to me like the Association of Dental Management Organization is more like a cartel. 

Patients Wonder Why Dental Boards Do Nothing About Bad Dentistry: Here’s why

Below is a list of a few dental boards who have Board Member who work for private equity/corporate owned dental chains.  Keep in mind in most states this is illegal. So what does that make these board members? Just saying…

Last updated: 12-7-2017 6:38PM

Arkansas

Dr. Richard Smith - Monarch Dental

Colorado

Mark William Adams, DDS – ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers

Dr. Vidhyalakshmi Sampath – Bright Now! Dental DSO

Florida

Joseph V. Calderone, Jr.,  DMD – Heartland Dental d/b/a DeBary Dental Care (to find search Heartland for dentist near zip code 32713)

Georgia

Dale Mayfield, DMD - Kool Smiles
Gregg Goggans - Smile Doctors (Dental Board Vice President)

Illinois

Julie Galloway, DDS – Heartland Dental

Indiana

Jeffery Snoddy,DDS – Heartland Dental

Iowa

Monica Foley, DDS  – Heartland Dental

William McBride, DDS – Midwest Dental

Maryland

Robert R. Windsor, DDS – Dental Care Alliance (Unconfirmed)

Michigan

Gregory Heintschel, DDS – President and CEO of My Community Dental Centers

Minnesota

Douglas Wolfe, DDS – Kool Smiles (Unconfirmed)

Nevada

Ali Shahrestani, DMD– Pacific Dental Service

New Jersey

Steve Goldstein , DDS– Dental Care Alliance

George McMurray, DDS – Allied Dental

Daneil DiCesare, DMD – Allied Dental

Pennsylvania

Andrew Matta, DMD – Chief Medical Officer and Founding Partner of North American Dental Group

Texas

Kimberly Haynes-Reese, DDS – Aspen Dental

H. Jorge Quirch, DDS – Heartland Dental

Virginia

Jamiah K. Dawson, DDS – Affordable Dentures and Implants

Washington

Lyle McClellan, DDS – Director of Doctor Development at Williamette Dental Group

Aaron Stevens, DMD – Williamette Dental Group

Check your state boards members.  If you find a member affilliated with a DSO, please email me and I will keep the list updated.

Related:

Big Step Forward: Dental Board Gives Voice to Group Dental Practices at State Level

Gov. Abbott Appoints Aspen Dental Dentist to to Texas State Board of Dental Examiners

Agency Capture at it’s finest!







http://www.kbtx.com/content/news/Local-dentist-named-to-State-Board-of-Dental-Examiners-458947533.html

Checking her dental licenses at the board and it’s sparkling clean.

However:

June 3.2016-Kimberly Haynes, DMD, received non-discipline remedial plan because of a complaint from a patient.  She was found to have fallen below the minimum standard of care, failed to keep adequate records and no informed consent from the patient among other things.

I'm told, David Tillman, the presiding officer is a weak leader and appointed for that very reason. I'm told board member Bryan Henderson, DDS is pro-DSO.  Kimberly Haynes, DMD, as we see is an Aspen dentist and H. Jorge Quirch, D.D.S is a Heartland dentist. One more and the DSO's will have a majority. Not that it matters because I'm also told the hygienists back the DSO's as well.

Texas State Board of Dental Examiners is a RAGING DUMPSTER FIRE!

Here is an article you may have interest in posting on DTM.   All of this information is in good faith and written for the purpose to expose the mismanagement at the Texas State Dental Board. 

----------------------------

It has been six months since an investigative reporter has exposed Kelly Parker's mismanagement and unethical behavior as the executive director at the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners.  Since then, the Board Members have done NOTHING.  She has brought disgrace onto the Board and dental profession as evidenced by negative media reports and multiple employee complaints.

Several employees brought their concerns directly to Board members only to hit a wall.  Employees jeopardized their own jobs by contacting Board members to report what was happening with the executive director they appointed.  Dr. Steve Austin, DDS, the presiding officer of the Board, refused to even listen because he feared being involved in any type of subsequent employee hearing.  See email below.

Kelly Parker shut down criminal investigations which allowed dentists and other licensees to potentially get away with criminal activity.  State Senators Jose Menendez and Charles Schwertner, as well as the Governor's office, were alerted to this fact.  Hello?!  Where are these officials??  Where are the Texas Rangers?  Or the Attorney General's Office?? 

At least nine former criminal investigators can testify in this matter.  NONE of them have yet been contacted by anyone, not even the senators or governor's office even though they said they would "look in to it."  Many of these investigators still have copies of their investigative reports that were written.  These ex-investigators are just waiting to share their stories with the appropriate authorities.

All but THREE criminal investigators left the Texas Dental Board this year because of Kelly Parker.  There are NO criminal investigators left in the entire Dallas region, the San Antonio region, or the entire Houston region!  None of them have been replaced.  After the entire investigative supervisory staff left this year, she promoted one sergeant to lieutenant who resigned his position after just a few weeks of having to deal with Kelly Parker.  He quit the agency shortly thereafter as well.  The mismanagement and unethical decisions coming from Parker prompted many people to leave without having another job to go to.  Once again, NONE of the Board Members want to address the nightmare they created.

It is estimated that over HALF the agency employees have left since Kelly Parker and Nycia Deal started running the agency into the ground.  Due to the large number of vacancies that have been caused by Kelly Parker, the agency HAS to be behind hundreds and hundreds (if not over a thousand) of complaints waiting to be investigated.  She has no one to investigate these complaints!  They are apparently trying to use various staff to clear out complaints.  NO ONSITES are being conducted at dental clinics, NO SANITATION/STERILIZATION inspections are being conducted, so how can they be claiming they're protecting the public??? 

Kelly Parker and Nycia Deal shut down onsite inspections and the ability to allow investigators to issue sanitation citations to violators.  That has been stopped for well over a year.  What is the purpose of that?  Makes as much sense as stopping criminal investigations!  With all the changes being made, one could easily argue that they are in the business of protecting DENTISTS, NOT THE PUBLIC!!

An independent outside audit should take place.  Chances are extremely high that numbers about backlogged cases are being hidden.  The same goes for the severely backlogged cases that are being bungled by Dr. Brook Bell and her dental division.

Kelly Parker has lost her second executive administrative assistant.  This is the second one in a row to just quit.  She lost her communications director, too.  Kelly Parker reportedly received a large number of negative feedback from a department-wide survey that was sent about her.  This should be very telling that all of these new employees already have nothing but negative to report about her and her management style.

In the two years that Kelly Parker and Nycia Deal have so poorly mismanaged the TSBDE, are they any better off than where they were two years ago?  ABSOLUTELY NOT.  In fact, they're probably in such a state of disarray, it will be a MONUMENTAL task for a new executive director to come in and right this sinking ship.

The real shame is that none of the Board Members care enough about their profession, much less the public, to deal with the problem they created by putting Kelly Parker and Nycia Deal in charge to make blunder after blunder.  Hundreds, if not more than a thousand dental complaints are not being tended to.  Hundreds, if not more than a thousand complaints are waiting to be reviewed.  The entire state of Texas only has three experienced investigators left.  People have been leaving the agency in droves.  They cannot retain staff.  Morale is abysmal. 

The TSBDE is now a raging dumpster fire and the Board Members seemingly ignore these facts.

                                                                                                                                                                     ---Anonymous

Dental Dreams, LLC Settles with MassHealth for $1.3 Million

September 5, 2017

BOSTON – The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office announced today that Dental Dreams, LLC, a national dental chain with locations in Massachusetts, has agreed to pay $1.375 million to resolve allegations that it improperly billed the Massachusetts Medicaid program (MassHealth) for unnecessary and unjustifiable dental procedures.

“Dental Dreams enriched itself at taxpayer expense by improperly billing Medicaid,” said Acting U.S. Attorney William D. Weinreb. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to ensure that federal and state health care dollars are spent properly.”

“This dental chain’s extensive improper billing violated state regulations and cost our state’s Medicaid program more than a million dollars,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. “As a result of this joint investigation, today’s settlement provides restitution to MassHealth and ensures that these funds are properly used to benefit its members.”

“Medicaid is designed to provide health care services to some of the most vulnerable members of our society and it’s our agency’s mission to ensure government health funds are spent properly,” said Special Agent in Charge Phillip M. Coyne of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. “Working with our Federal and State partners, we will continue to hold accountable any medical professional who, just to enrich themselves, bills Medicaid for more intensive and expensive services than those actually provided.”

“The company took advantage of a vulnerable patient population when it submitted claims to MassHealth for medically unnecessary and unreasonable dental procedures,” said Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division. “Today’s settlement underscores the FBI’s commitment to investigate health care providers who overbill federal and private health insurance programs to maximize profits. We urge anyone with information regarding overbilling practices to contact us.”

The settlement resolves allegations that Dental Dreams overbilled the Massachusetts Medicaid program for surgical extractions of teeth and for a specific kind of oral examination.

The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by a former employee under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which permits private parties to sue on behalf of the government for false claims for government funds and to receive a share of any recovery.

Acting U.S. Attorney Weinreb, Massachusetts Attorney General Healey, HHS-OIG SAC Coyne and FBI SAC Shaw made the announcement today. The case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle Leung, Sonya Rao, and Kriss Basil of Weinreb’s Civil Division and Assistant Attorney General Stephany Collamore of Healey’s Medicaid Fraud Division.

September 2017 Conference: Top Trends in Dentistry Not Heard Anywhere Else

Concerned Dentists of Texas Presents: Business of Dentistry 101

When: Friday, September 15, 2017 (9am-5pm) during the Southwest Dental Conference
Where: Dallas Omni Hotel Cedars Room, 555 S Lamar St, Dallas, TX 75202
Registration: Concerned Dentists of Texas (CDOT)
Contact person: Jackie Stanfield, DDS, concderneddentistsoftexas@gmail.com 
                            (972) 355-2273

Topics include:

• Problems facing dentists, new or retiring, involving dental practices owned and operated by Private Equity companies and Wall Street Hedge Funds.
• Understanding dental employment contracts: the vulnerabilities and consequences.
• Discussion about the business model of dentistry such as Dental Service Organizations (DSO’s): the impact on dentists, staff and patients.
• Legal issues and potential ramification facing dentists today.
• Medicaid Fraud
• Government and Legislation issues: overreach and/or underreach.
• Solutions: what you can do to protect your patients, yourself, your business and financial future.

Rare appearance together by following speakers:

Lunch will be provided by the following meeting sponsors: 
Dr. Rene Scott
Frank Brown, ADS Watson Brown and Associates
Johnette Green, Wells Fargo, johnette.green@wellsfargo.com
Dr. Shab Krish, MJ and Sleep Therapy Center of North Texas; and
Josh Knowles, Allstate

Concerned Dentists of Texas (CDOT) is committed to the well-being of the dental profession and the patients we serve.

Gentle Smiles, LLC and Dr. Annie Watson, DDS Settles Fraud Allegations with Masshealth

AG Healey Returns $500,000 to Masshealth in Settlement With Springfield Dentist Over Alleged Improper Billing

August  21, 2017

BOSTON – Attorney General Maura Healey announced today that her office has reached a settlement with a pediatric dentist in Springfield, returning $500,000 to the state’s Medicaid program (MassHealth) and resolving claims that the dentist improperly billed the program for services.
The settlement agreement resolves allegations that Dr. Annie Watson, DDS and her dental practice, Gentle Smiles, LLC, improperly billed MassHealth for palliative care (emergency pain treatment) between March 2010 and June 2013, and failed to comply with MassHealth rules associated with the use of that emergency treatment billing code.

The AG’s Office began an investigation into Dr. Watson and Gentle Smiles upon a referral from MassHealth, which identified Dr. Watson as the top biller of the palliative care code among all MassHealth dental providers.

Palliative care is the emergency treatment of dental pain that relieves the pain but is not curative and can include draining of an abscess or prescribing pain medication or antibiotics. In order to bill this code, the patient’s dental record must contain a description of the treatment provided and must document that the treatment was given on an emergency basis.

The AG’s investigation revealed that Dr. Watson routinely billed for palliative care without any supporting documentation, including when patients only received cleanings and x-rays.
Under the terms of the civil settlement, Dr. Watson and her business will pay MassHealth $500,000 as restitution for improper billing. The settlement also requires that Dr. Watson and her employees review and comply with all applicable state and federal statutes, and all regulations governing participation in MassHealth.

MassHealth provides healthcare products and services to eligible low-income individuals, including people with disabilities, children and senior citizens.

This matter was handled by Managing Attorney Lee Hettinger and Investigator Deborah El Majdoubi, both of the AG’s Medicaid Fraud Division. MassHealth assisted in this investigation.

Bethaniel Jefferson indicted on a felony charge of causing serious bodily injury to a child by omission

Photo: Craig Hartley Craig Hartley, Freelance

Excerpts from Houston Chronicle Story:

A former Houston dentist was formally charged Monday (July 24, 2017) with failing to properly treat a sedated 4-year-old patient who was left with permanent brain damage in what should have been a routine procedure.

The child's mother, Courissa Clark, said she was "overjoyed" when she heard the news.

"We're really grateful that justice has been served and the person that did this to our baby is finally being brought to justice," Hall told the Chronicle.

"When little Nevaeh was taken to the dentist that day, (her parents) turned her over to the dentist trusting that the dentist would protect and look after their little girl," said attorney James Moriarty. "But she overdosed her on sedatives."

The girl was sedated at the Diamond Dental office about 8:30 a.m. Jan. 7, 2016, prosecutors said in a statement. Three hours later she suffered a seizure, and her oxygen level and temperature fell dramatically. Prosecutors say it took more than four hours before anyone called for medical assistance.

Jefferson was reprimanded by the Texas Board of Dental Examiners in 2005 and 2012, prosecutors said. The board revoked her license in November after a state administrative judge ruled that she "fell below the minimum standard of care, failed to uphold the duty of fair dealing and committed dishonorable conduct when providing dental care."

The Chronicle's investigation cast a spotlight on Medicaid dental clinics that had flourished through treatment of pediatric patients whose low-income families qualified for government assistance.

Medicaid dental claims in Texas quintupled between 2005 and 2015 to $1 billion a year after the state doubled reimbursement rates in 2007.

Jefferson now faces trial on a first-degree felony charge.

"This indictment should send a message to the medical community that they will be held accountable for abandoning their patients in times of crisis," prosecutor Stan Clark of the Texas attorney general's Medicare fraud unit said in the statement.

"While accidents in the health care industry occur more than everyone would prefer, practitioners must react appropriately and contact higher level medical care providers when they realize their patient is distressed beyond their capabilities," he said.

Read the Entire Article Here