Dental Clinic Business Settles $1 Million Claim
December 19. 2008
NBC WYFF TV, Channel 4
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- An Atlanta-based dental healthcare provider with clinics in Sumter, Anderson, and Greenville has agreed to pay the United States more than $1 million to settle a claim.
Kool Smiles PC, Inc. was accused of billing Medicaid for the work of an unauthorized dentist in the Sumter area.
The dental health care provider agreed to pay a total of $1,360,528 to resolve allegations that it submitted claims to Medicaid for services provided by the dentist who had previously been excluded from all federal health care benefit programs, including Medicaid.
The dentist in question was disqualified for Medicare funding because she had failed to repay more than $22,000 in federal student loans, according to U. S. Attorney Walter Wilkins.
Under the agreement, Kool Smiles will repay all the money it received from Medicaid for the services provided by the dentist after she was excluded, plus interest and investigative costs.
Under the settlement agreement, Kool Smiles will repay all the money it received from Medicaid for the services provided by the dentist, plus interest and investigative costs.
9 comments:
Dentistry has become a low class business. Practitioners who default an student loans, large corporations having to pay bay Medicaid because they got caught doing something they should never been doing in the first place. One can only imagine what else goes on that people are not getting caught at?
Whenever we had a new dentist join the practice, we always billed under the 'lead' dentist for work done until we got the credentials for the new DDS. Fraud??? Absolutely!
Isn't that strange, we do the same think at our Small Smiles location in Colorado. Whenever there is a new dentist everything is billed under the lead dentist even though the lead dentist didn't do it because the new dentists credentials aren't finalized yet. I agree that is fraud. FORBA fraud.
I don't understand why it's billed under the "lead" dentist and not the "owner" dentist if that's how they are going to do it. In fact I hear a lot about 'lead' dentists and not a word about the 'owner' dentist. Why is that?
Because it could be proven if the 'owner' dentist was in the clinic or not. The 'owner' dentist is like a 'shell company' for a corporation. The lead dentist is there nearly every day .... which if questioned could be proven with the time clock. The same can not be said for the 'owner'. In the 2+ years I worked for SS - the 'owner' was there for 3 days. That was it.
As a Dentist for Kool Smiles, Dr. Strange is no longer here but Kool Smiles is paying him to represent KS until they can sell the company. FFL (their VC) wants to merge the California Office much quicker to the Atlanta offices bragging the whole time that they are now a 50 million dollar operation. The best news this month has been the Chairman's son Chris Brown is being sued by the receptionist in Atlanta for sexual harrassment. She moved out of her house and divorced her husband because of all of the promises Chris made to get into her pants. Now he has met a black employee who has promised to not turn him in so he has dumped the previous employee / girl toy. Well she blew a gasket and now she is sueing for everything under the sun....they will settle, the HR VP's are both wimps.
Chris Brown is the Chairman Doug Brown's son, he has as much of his family working for the company as possible. Chris will screw anything in a skirt, he is still hitting on me. Where is all of this concern for the underserved community....not here
Yes Dentistry has evolved in to an unscrupulous and unethical "profession". It is chock full of greedy self centered, self important people who could not admit to their own wrong doings even if they were locked in a closet with them and nothing else.
It is highly characteristic of dentists to not admit to anything that they have done poorly or otherwise unacceptable even though it is blaringly obvious to everyone else around them. This begins in dental school and continues on thereafter. It is obviously something that is largely inbred then reinforced while in school. The difference is that in school their unethical behaviors are although preached against, they have become scceptable standards to hold to. Once a dental student graduates and receives a license it is every man for himself. All bets are off. Anything goes. No one is watching them or monitoring their behavior. They enter school and then graduate with dreams of making big dollars. After receiving that license they are free to do whatever they like. Patients typically do not know what they are receiving. And boy if one were to really know how common it is to over treat or even treat teeth that need no treatment at all. We all have had our teeth cut in to that did not have the need to be cut in to.
These Medicaid clinics are just the largest example of the bonanza that goes on daily in every state in the union. And over treatment and needless treatment is extremely common in dentistry. It is just that these Medicaid clinics are abusing the system in a HUGE way and getting away with it.
Another chatracteristic if dentists is that they are on some big ego or power trip or some combination thereof. They typically use this and feel that they are above reproach. Sexual abuse and infidelity against spouses is VERY common. Sexual harrassment in dental offices is common, particularly at these Medicaid clinics. Reason why? Because theses dentists are unhappy for one thing. And they do not care because they generally know that they would not be reported or otherwise caught. Somehow- the public has some high regard for dentists as "professionals" and generally do not pay attention to these types of things. And these female employees who are sexually harrassed or abused just do not speak up about it when it happens.
Yes dentistry is a dirty business. The public just does not know.
every comment that you have read about the unethical behaviors and unscrupulous activity is all true. Believe it! I've been there, seen it all. More people should speak out against these behaviors.
Anyone in this business of dentistry who has any shred of decency and who is honest with themselves should be able to admit that these types of things that are read about here are quite common.
Oh yeah- David Strange. He admitted to me during an interview that his dad has four or five offices in Colorado himself and that after he milks Kool Smiles for the contract he has he is going back to dad's place and apply the same things he learned from Kool Smiles... Dr. Strange has as much scruples as Charie Manson, in my opinion. He just does not care. Makes me ashamed to be classified as a dentist with him.
And yes, by the way, there is no doubt about what Alex and Lisa have written about the behavior of those higher ups at Kool Smiles.
If you believe the people that run these places and have big titles for their jobs have admirable intentions then I want to sell you some Ocean-front property in Colorado or Atlanta!
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