Article maligned my dental clinic
Regarding "Dental clinics merit scrutiny" (Editorial, Tuesday):
I believe the editorial's characterization of my dental practice as a scam was misleading and irresponsible. It is simply not true. Grouping my practice with Onsite Dental, which fraudulently billed Medicaid and whose owner's license has been suspended, is egregious and reckless. It threatens my practice and places thousands of Arizona children at risk of not having access to dental care.
For the past decade, I have operated a mobile dentistry practice that has served more than 200,000 of the more than 1 million Arizona schoolchildren who do not receive dental care. The roughly 200 dentists I have employed over the past 10 years are dedicated to the mission of helping these kids.
The Republic reported that $12.5 million was collected from AHCCCS during the past two years ("Mobile dental clinics drawing scrutiny," Sunday), leaving the reader with the impression that the amount collected was inflated or unwarranted. The newspaper failed to mention that more than 105,000 children received much-needed care for that amount at a rate of less than $120 per child.
As a large Medicaid provider, my practice is continually audited by the dental directors of multiple insurance companies as well as government regulators. We are proud of our record and hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards.
-- Dr. Ralph Green, Phoenix
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2012/08/24/20120824-article-maligned-my-dental-clinic.html#ixzz24Tw6WpB6
