Showing posts with label Church Street Health Management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Church Street Health Management. Show all posts

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Washington State Dental Association: LOCAL DENTAL CLINICS OPERATED BY LONE PEAK MANAGEMENT ENGAGED IN DANGEROUS AND DECEPTIVE PRACTICES

image
Contact: Bracken Killpack
206.973.5227; bracken@wsda.org
LOCAL DENTAL CLINICS OPERATED BY LONE PEAK MANAGEMENT
ENGAGED IN DANGEROUS AND DECEPTIVE PRACTICES, COMPLAINTS ALLEGE
Practice at Smiles 4 Kids, Kids Dental, Family Orthodontics Put Patients at Risk
and Cost Low-Income Families
TACOMA – November 13, 2018 – The Washington State Dental Association (WSDA) has filed a new complaint with the Washington State Department of Health, alleging dental clinics operated by Lone Peak Management Group, LLC (Lone Peak) are engaging in dangerous and deceptive practices.
The WSDA complaint is just the latest complaint against Lone Peak, which operates more than a dozen clinics in Washington state, specializes in pediatric dentistry, and serves a high percentage of low-income, Medicaid-eligible patients.

The WSDA complaint was filed after research into Lone Peak practices. It alleges that the chain arranged a kickback scheme that generated nearly $170 for Lone Peak every time a patient was administered general anesthesia. Disguised as a “facility use fee” charged to the anesthesia provider, these payments far exceeded fair market value of the record-keeping Lone Peak provided the anesthesia provider, generating substantial additional profit for Lone Peak.

Dentists and staff in Lone Peak offices also were directed to engage in a system of self-referral to affiliated clinics for specialty dental services like oral surgery and orthodontia. This system ignored patient preferences and in many cases resulted in families traveling significant distances to affiliated clinics when other qualified providers were nearby.

Internal Lone Peak documents cited in the complaint clearly demonstrate the profit motive behind this policy: “Patients in your office should NOT be given options as to where they would like to go for their wisdom teeth extractions,” reads one email. “Regardless of how near/far the office … referring patients anywhere else is sending OUR business and money away and is therefore unacceptable.”

Previously, Seattle’s KIRO 7 TV reported on another whistleblower complaint against Lone Peak, filed by a former office manager who left the company after refusing to follow directives from company managers to re-use dental mouthpieces that are intended for single-use only.
Internal company emails cited in the whistleblower complaint show Lone Peak putting profits ahead of patient safety. In one email regarding the reuse of mouthpieces, a Lone Peak executive lamented the fact that “our expenses would go through the roof if we didn’t find a way around” the single-use requirement.

The emails also describe how Lone Peak ignored concerns raised by at least one clinic dentist about the reuse of single-use mouthpieces. Lone Peak agents directed dental office staff to deceive that dentist: “We should probably hide our open Isolites (mouthpieces) on the days we know she is coming in,” wrote a Lone Peak agent. “In the meantime, just make her happy when she is around, and then go back to business as usual when she leaves.”

“The concerns brought forward by the whistleblower and uncovered by our team are deeply troubling and represent a dangerous corporate intrusion in the doctor-patient relationship,” said Dr. Chris Delecki, president of the Washington State Dental Association. “This speaks to what can happen when corporations are allowed to directly or indirectly own dental practices. In this environment, corporations can direct, question and over-rule the decisions dentists make in how to best treat their patients. This is why our association has consistently advocated for state laws to prohibit this type of interference and why we have engaged in bringing these practices to light.”

Washington law prohibits corporations, including dental service organizations (DSOs), from practicing dentistry, which includes directing a dentist’s treatment plan; limiting or imposing requirements on how a dentists uses equipment or materials in the provision of treatment; or limiting or imposing requirements on the materials, supplies, instruments or equipment a dentist deems necessary to provide diagnoses or treatments consistent with the standard of care.

Lone Peak is a DSO headquartered in Colorado that manages approximately 50 dental clinics in 12 states, including Washington. Lone Peak is owned by Tailwind Capital, a private equity firm whose stated mission is to transition businesses to become “larger, more profitable enterprises.”

Documents received by WSDA indicate that certain executives of Lone Peak may also have been involved with the Small Smiles dental chain DSO, and a number of Lone Peak dental offices formerly may have been Small Smiles dental offices. Small Smiles was included in a scathing 2013 US Senate report that found the chain performed unnecessary services and that its business model deceptively gave managers rather than dentists control over the clinics. The report also recommended that Small Smiles be excluded from participating in the federal Medicaid program. 

Small Smiles and its parent company, Church Street Health Management (CHSM) have faced litigation before. In 2012, Small Smiles paid $24 million to settle allegations of Medicaid fraud brought by the U.S. Department of Justice. And in 2015, Small Smiles agreed to pay nearly $39 million in claims for alleged “unnecessary, inappropriate, unsafe, and excessive dental procedures.” Church Street Health Management has since declared bankruptcy.
 
The most recent complaints here in Washington also name Justin VanBibber, a Utah-based dentist who serves as the nominal head of the clinics engaged in the kickbacks and the mouthpiece reuse practice. He is listed as a practicing dentist on Lone Peak clinic websites in Washington, but the profile for his South Jordan, Utah practice lists him as a resident of Utah.
The Washington State Department of Health has opened active investigations into Lone Peak’s and VanBibber’s practices.


About the WSDA
The Washington State Dental Association’s 4,400 member dentists are committed to solutions that prevent disease and ensure quality oral health for all Washingtonians. WSDA empowers its members to advocate for and provide optimal oral health care.






















Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Small Smiles Dental Centers in yet another Federal Report due out today

daily news

A new federal report will be released Wednesday showing that shady dentists and orthodontists billed the state's Medicaid program for questionable procedures on children. One dentist claimed to have provided one child 42 tooth fillings in a single visit.

BY Glenn Blain NEW YORK DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU|Wednesday, March 26, 2014, 12:20 AM

The state’s Medicaid program paid through the teeth for questionable billings by shady dentists and orthodontists, a new federal report charges.

One dentist claimed to have provided one child 42 tooth fillings in a single visit.

Another dentist averaged 16 procedures per child, compared with a statewide average of five, according to the report, which is being released Wednesday.

They were among 23 pediatric dentists and six orthodontists in the state who pocketed $13.2 million in Medicaid payments in 2012 for services that appeared unnecessary or may not have been performed at all, according to the report by the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general.

“We found one orthodontist who treated almost 5,000 children in a single year,” said Lucia Fort, an analyst in the inspector general’s office.

“That’s about 10 times higher than the state average for orthodontists.”

smale-smiles-web“…Seven of the 23 dentists were associated with the Small Smiles dental chain, which shut down its New York operations in 2012 after accusations that it provided unnecessary treatments.”

Read the complete NY Daily News Story here.

 


CSHM/Small Smiles Dental has been changing the business entity names on file with the Secretary of State in Kentucky and Ohio. Small Smiles of Akron, LLC – Michael Crites, DDS has been changed to Akron Smiles Youth Dentistry, LLC – Michael Crites, DDS. (if you would like a look at the many name changes in Ohio, search the Secretary of State site here using “Prior Business Name”)

Small Smiles of Louisville, PSC was changed to Louisville Smiles Youth Dentistry, PCS on November 27, 2013. Since at least June of 2013,

CSHM has also been changing information contained in their dentists National Provider Identifier (NPI) records on file with the Federal government. The mailing address has also been changed in the individual clinic records. The business mailing address has been changed to a US Postal Service sub-station post office box:16 Arcade Unit 198747, Nashville, TN 37219-1994.

The “manager of licensing and credentialing, Ms. Jenell Stringer is making the changes. I’m sure at the direction of someone at CSHM headquarters.

For instance, on June 11, 2013, Ms. Jenell Stringer, Manager of Licensing and Credentialing changed the mailing address in the NPI record of Small Smiles of Worcester, LLC d/b/a Straight Smiles of Worcester-(NPI number 1487943635) to:

16 Arcade Unit 198747
Nashville, TN 37219-1994
615-750-0343

You can see for yourself by searching the NPI number here.

They did the same thing in May of 2010, just 4 months after the Corporate Integrity Agreement was put into place. At that time I believe they used a US Postal Service sub-station at 208 W. 8th Street, Ste 810,Pueblo, Colorado, 81003-3038

If you would like to check out the dentist records, click here. Below are a few names and NPI numbers:

  • Merlin L. Cherian, DMD – 1922348507
  • Elizabeth Kay Geier, DDS – 1134251127 (Elizabeth is the “owner dentist” of the Louisville, Kentucky clinic and some in Ohio, along with long time puppet, Dr. Jodi Kuhn, who now has her name slapped all over the clinics in Colorado.)
  • Harry Huger Houston, III, DDS – 1003991050
  • Todd Bernard, DMD – 1336572791
  • Sujani Vellanki, DMD – 1740562610 (apparently she practices dentistry at the post office, since the physical address on her location is also 16 Arcade, Until 198747, Nashville, TN)

Monday, December 16, 2013

The Medicaid gravy train continues


If you read this blog, then you know profits with Medicaid dentistry is made on high volume, gross excessive treatment, all at a single visit. The prime example is Small Smiles and their Production Per Patient (PPP) mantra handed out to their employed dentists. As testimony revealed in a New York malpractice case, "PPP is the Golden Goose", said one Small Smile executive. As was put another way by one of Small Smiles managers, “you eat what you kill”. 

It’s undeniable, years ago, Small Smiles Dental set the gold standard of excessive treatment by restraining children with use of the papoose board. 

As heat from press, parents and few state dental board followed some Medicaid accepting dentists and dental chains decided sedation would be the key even more profits, leaving the least amount of yuk in everyone's mouth—the children, the parents and especially the public.

Weekend "get-a-way" sedation courses were developed, lobbyist hired and representatives of the dental community were sent on press junkets stressing the need for higher reimbursements from insurers and Medicaid; all to accomplish the same thing—Production Per Patient. Now, as ABC news has reported in 2012, we have children being overdosed, brain damaged and dying at an alarming rate.

All the while, government regulators appear to be hiding under their desks. It is understandable that the bulk of the dental profession has given up. It’s been proven over and over there is no money to be made in Medicaid dentistry, if provided ethically. Add government corruption and ineptitude to the mix and it’s like the sadistic relationship between the addict, and their co-dependent enabler; life and death danger to both.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Small Smiles Dental Centers’ last ditch effort to avoid trial has FAILED

After 2 years or more of stall tactics by attorney’s representing Small Smiles Dental Center defendants, the New York trials are set to begin in three weeks!  Yes, you heard me, three, count’em 1… 2,…3… weeks!  Yahoo!  Jury selection set to begin September 9, 2013.

Tuesday (August 14, 2013) the  court ruled against Small Smiles and defendants and their plea for a Summary Judgment — essentially telling the old boys to buckle-up, quit whining, they have you by the balls, be ready for trial or start writing checks. Small Smiles Dental Centers’ former dentists (17 in total) and that nasty DeRose crew in Colorado are in for a very bumpy ride. 

Small Smiles Dental Centers NY Malpractice Defendants are:

Companies

Individuals

FORBA Holdings, LLC

Dan E. DeRose
n/k/a Church Street Health Management, LLC Michael A. DeRose

FORBA NY, LLC

Edward J. DeRose

FORBA, LLC n/k/a LICSAC, NY, LLC

Adolph Padula

DD Marketing, Inc.

William A. Mueller

DeRose Management, LLC

Michael Roumph

Small Smiles Dentistry of Albany, LLC

Maziar Izadi, DDS

Albany Access Dentistry, PLLC

Laura Kroner, DDS

Small Smiles Dentistry of Syracuse, LLC

Judith Mori, DDS

 

Lissett Bernal, DDS
Edmise Forstal, DDS
Evan Goldstein, DDS
Keerthi Golla, DDS
Nassef Lancen, DDS
Wadia Hanna, DDS
Koury Bonds, DDS
Tarek Elsafty, DDS
Dimitri Filostrat, DDS
Yaqobb Khan, DDS
Delia Morales, DDS
Janine Randazzo, DDS
Loc Vin Nuu, DDS
Grace Yaghmai, DDS
  and others
 
These sweet children were hurt and abused and forevermore changed from as far back as 2006, and it’s finally making it to trial!  So, as a warning to all you dentists still employed there, don’t think your ass is out of a bind when you quit; cause it “ain’t”.  Not by a long shot!

Some of the dentists say the used their best medical judgment to provide dental care to the children suing them, but evidence indicates that isn’t even close.  In fact, it’s laughable! Evidence provided showed Koury Bonds, DDS and the others violated the “relevant standard on care” on several issues. 

According to the ruling, there is plenty of evidence these dentists prepared and recommend treatment without clinical justification and performed substandard care. 

They unnecessarily restrained children in papoose boards; extracted teeth that without clinical justification; failed to use local anesthetics, filled teeth that didn’t need to be filled; altering records; performing unnecessary baby root canals;(remember that $35 million dollar award a few weeks ago over unnecessary root canals?) failed to obtain proper informed consent for treatment from parents; just to name a few.  These guys knowingly and purposefully used informed consent forms that they knew did not meet the standards or guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD).

Now, haven’t I been screaming this as loud as I can for some 6 years now.  Everything I’ve uncovered and reported here about this horrible place is being proven to be the truth, and it looks like it’s going to be told in front of a jury, pretty damn quickly.

In the ruling the Judge states, “There…is ample evidence from which a jury could concluded that the defendants perpetuated a fraud on the plaintiff by treatment him and other Small Smiles patients not to meet his medical needs but as a means to maximize profits for the dentists, corporations and Individual Defendants.” (the DeRose crew)

More excerpts from the ruling:

“Email correspondence… demonstrates the overriding emphasis on profits.”  One such email between Michael Roumph and the lead dentists in the Albany NY clinic states “[p]roduction per patient needs to improve.” 

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Health and Human Services or Health and Hedge-fund Services? When it comes to Medicaid dental mills, it’s the latter.

December 11, 2012
On Tuesday, December 11, 2012, The Today Show aired an investigative report about the on going troubles at the Small Smiles Dental Centers. Interviews included one with Health and Human Services (HHS) officials in charge of overseeing the compliance of the notoriously troubled clinics.

If you’ve not seen the report, please take time to do that here.

The segment included an interview with a HHS-OIG Branch spokesperson. However, if not for the HHS-OIG seal displayed one would presume it came out of the the PR department at CSHM headquarters.


NBS News Senior Investigative Correspondent, Lisa Myers asks HHS-OIG spokesperson, “They’ve had 4 bites at the apple, when is enough, enough?”  


HHS-OIG responded with this check list:HHS

1. “Dentists have been fired” – Well, dentists are fired there every day!! They are fired every day because they don’t meet the production numbers set by the corporate office. Their turn over had been setting at 48% since the beginning!

What about the Chief Dental Officer – Steven Adair, DDS?  He actually got a promotion. Dr. Adair is the author of the news letter for CSHM in which he suggests instead of the papoose board, try the “superman cape” method.

What is the Superman Cape Technique? Here, read this!

Compliance officers? – Yes, a few. They have burned through 3 in 2.5 years. CSHM will not hesitate to been throw one under the bus, blaming them for falsified reports to the OIG.

2. “Clinics have been closed” – Yes, they have filed bankruptcy! The started closing clinics in early 2011! HHS only forced 1 clinic in actually close – Manassas Virginia.

3. “This is not the same company” – True, it simply filed for bankruptcy, reorganized with some of the same investors in the background, and changed it’s name, replaced the CEO and President. But that was in 2011!

3. “The Independent Monitor is telling us that Quality of Care is consistently improving” – The same independent monitor in place for 3 years! The one CSHM pays. The one whose head dental investigator is buddies with the company’s Chief Dental Officer. So exactly when did that “improvement” begin? June of 2012? Certainly not in April 2012? The new people in charge actually  stepped in October 2011. It just wasn’t on paper with the bankruptcy court until June 2012.

The company has been in the news, how many times since 2007?
Countless!!!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

2012 Small Smiles investigation by NBS shows abuse of children continues despite actions taken by HHS

By Talesha Reynolds and Lisa Myers
ssofdenver
It’s just over 5 years since HHS-OIG and DOJ began an investigation of Small Smiles Dental Centers.
It’s 3 years after the company was put under a Corporate Integrity Agreement.
Small Smiles abuse continues. In the new investigation -  HHS-OIG sound more like the company's PR firm than protectors of public health; Senator Grassley calls for the company to be closed down and says it’s all about the dollars.
today show
Click here for the full report.
Transcript of the video


____________________________

Visits to the dentist can be upsetting for little children, but when Autum Archuleta took her son Nathan to a Small Smiles dental clinic in February 2010, it was beyond anything she could have imagined. The dentist gave Nathan, then almost 3, three crowns, two baby root canals and six silver fillings in 25 minutes.
While in the waiting room, Archuleta says she heard her son screaming and burst into the treatment room. She says Nathan was crying and struggling to move while being held down by three clinic employees and wrapped from his head to his feet in a stabilization device called a papoose board. She thinks he wasn't properly numbed.
"He wasn't the same for a long time after we brought him home," Archuleta said. "He cried a lot...He wasn't my little boy. He didn't smile...The night terrors were the worst. I mean it was a lot of sleepless nights."
A dentist who later reviewed Nathan's records said the work was shoddy and many procedures unnecessary. A dentist who saw Nathan the following year wrote that he had "severe situational trauma."
"To me I think they did it for the money," Archuleta said of Small Smiles. "Flat-out did it for the money. Because it was Medicaid and Medicaid would pay them."
An NBC News investigation of the performance of Small Smiles' 63 dental clinics over the last three years found repeated allegations of substandard work and unnecessary procedures which drove up the cost to taxpayers. The allegations came from anguished parents, government investigators and former employees around the country.
Such practices violate a settlement the company reached with the Justice Department in January 2010, following allegations that it was bilking taxpayers by doing unnecessary and substandard procedures on low-income children.
At the time, Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice said, "We have zero tolerance for those who break the law to exploit children in need."
The company that managed Small Smiles and affiliated clinics agreed to significantly alter its practices and subject itself to independent monitoring. It also agreed to pay $24 million, without admitting wrongdoing.
But three years later, records show the company has not cleaned up its act.
"This company sees dollar signs in the eyes of every child they bring in," Senator Chuck Grassley told NBC News. Grassley has been investigating dental organizations whose primary source of revenue is Medicaid. He says Small Smiles practices assembly-line treatment, focused more on quantity than quality.
"This whole investigation kind of leads us to two things. To a conclusion that the tax payers are being fleeced, and children are being abused." Grassley said.
Small Smiles clinics are managed by a private corporation called CSHM, LLC, which was until June called Church Street Health Management.
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS OIG) is responsible for monitoring the clinics and rendering penalties when appropriate.
Lisa Re, a branch chief who heads an HHS OIG team of attorneys, says CSHM is improving since it emerged from bankruptcy in June 2012 with a new CEO and leadership.
"Recently, under new management, I would say that it is getting much better."
But according to letters from HHS OIG to Church Street, the compliance has been inconsistent and sometimes alarming.
In May, the office required CSHM to temporarily close a facility in Oxon Hill, Maryland to train staff on "the appropriate use of mouth props, patient stabilization practices, appropriate use and administration of anesthesia," among other things. Nine of 30 records the independent monitor reviewed "did not provide any documentation or radiographic evidence to support the medical necessity for the treatment provided. Six of those nine records showed baby root canals were performed "without medical necessity."
The OIG required the company to divest from a location in Manassas, VA in March because of "flagrant violations." A 2011 audit at that clinic found 104 of 244 baby root canals performed by the lead dentist to be medically unnecessary. In a sample of 34 records, 20 patients were restrained and given baby root canals with insufficient anesthesia. The monitor expressed concern that the children "were resisting treatment because they were being hurt."
In June the office fined CSHM 100,000 dollars after an audit found multiple breaches at an Ohio clinic, including treatments performed without medical necessity, incomplete or poorly done root canals, crowns places on "non-restorable" teeth and "poor techniques of administering local anesthesia." Six of seven dentists performed root canals on children that were not needed.
Last year, the agency issued a 230,000 dollar penalty, the largest it has ever levied, for multiple failures to comply with provisions of the government agreement. Among the breaches, the company failed to meet training and education requirements.
Still, Small Smiles continues to rake in millions in Medicaid dollars. Despite multiple threats to exclude the company from receiving federal funds, it made 150 million dollars in revenue from Medicaid in 2011.
The HHS OIG has given Church Street multiple chances to keep the clinics in business, levying penalties against the company and threatening to exclude them from receiving federal dollars. But the threats generally come with an out — a way to repair the breaches and avoid being exclusion.
Senator Grassley believes that cycle should come to an end.
"The inspector general has given this group a lot of second chances. Every time they get their hand in the cookie jar. All sorts of excuses. So you get back to how long can this go on — the fleecing of the tax payers, the abuse of children? And you get back to the point that maybe it's about time for the inspector general to disqualify this company from Medicaid."
DENTAL CARE VACUUMS CREATE LIMITED OPTIONS IN LOW-INCOME NEIGHBORHOODS
Small Smiles treats about 500,000 children a year. Jamier Brown, 4, was one of them. His mother Jasmine brought him to Small Smiles in Dayton, Ohio at the end of 2011 because she couldn't afford her other options.
"I knew that his mouth needed attention. And he was complaining that his teeth were hurting, so I just couldn't wait around to see when I could get the money. I had to go as soon as I could," she said.
Jamier received caps and fillings in most of his mouth in January.  Months later, he is still in pain.  The gum line is discolored where his front teeth we capped and Jamier says, "It hurts all the time."
Two dentists who reviewed Jamier's records said he should have been treated by a pediatric dentist, most likely in the hospital under general anesthesia. One called the treatment on his front teeth "inadequate."
At the time Jamier was treated, Jasmine was in Job Corps and living with her mother. She blames herself for what happened to her son.
"It's kinda my fault," she said as tears rolled down her face, "Because if I would have had the money, he probably wouldn't have felt any of that pain that he had to go through."
The guilt Brown feels is common among parents who spoke with NBC News and claimed their children were hurt at Small Smiles. They all said they didn’t know where else to go.
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 31.5 million children were eligible for dental coverage through Medicaid in fiscal year 2011, but only 14.7 million children utilized a dental or oral health service.
Four out of five dentists don't take Medicaid, some because they just don't treat children but others complain of low reimbursement rates. Dr. Warren Brill is the president elect of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD). He has his own practice in Baltimore, MD and 85 percent of his patients are on Medicaid.
"Reimbursement rates are a large factor in terms of dentists not accepting children on Medicaid, because the fees that they get are often times lower than the cost of providing the care," he said.
According to AAPD 70 percent of its members accept Medicaid. But only 3.5 percent of all professionally active dentists practice that specialty.
Nevertheless, Dr. Brill says parents of children on public insurance can find quality care.
"It's a question of learning how to make the appointment, getting referrals from state health departments, from dental associations, from friends and relatives. Parents that find those avenues should be able to find a dentist for their children."
DOES PROFIT MODEL PUT CHILDREN AT RISK?
Because Medicaid reimbursement rates are lower than what dentists charge other patients, critics say to make a profit, the clinics rely on volume.
Dr. Kianor Shah worked for Small Smiles briefly in 2011.  He says he left after witnessing disturbing practices. The dentist showed NBC News notes he took about treatments he observed during his time there. Scattered across several pages were words like "restraint brutal," "unnecessary" and "no way."
"I observed excessive use of the papoose board and excessive use of force to restrain children as well as overtreatment for procedures that could have been done with much less invasive approach."
Shah claims dentists were coerced into abusing children and overcharging Medicaid by the promise of bonuses and pressure from management.
"I was advised, quote unquote, 'The dentists eat what they kill.' That means that they're gonna get paid for as much work as they do on those Medicaid kids. And that was about the last straw for me."
Senator Grassley's investigation involves dental management companies that are controlled by corporate investors. Many states require dentists to own the clinics but the management companies, like CSHM, effectively control the operations.
"Our investigation has found a lot of private equity money being invested in companies that are doing everything they can in the most sophisticated way to take as much money out of Medicaid as they can. And in the process of just milking the Medicaid program, we're finding a lot of abuse of children."
PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT AT SMALL SMILES
The Inspector General's office says the Small Smiles clinics have progressively improved, and while that improvement has been "uneven," the company is providing essential care to a vulnerable population. The agency maintains that it is better to aggressively monitor the company than to shutter it.
"If we had closed down Small Smiles last year, there would have been an uncontrolled shut down of this company leaving half a million kids scrambling for dental care," said Lisa Re.
The issue is further complicated by the states, which are responsible for administering Medicaid. The OIG surveyed states about the impact of closing the clinics and got a strong reaction.
"Some of the states were alarmed that we were even considering closing any of the clinics because they simply didn't have enough dentists to provide any care to these kids," said Re.
The attorney said in the last couple of years the office found five clinics to have the most significant problems.
"It's important to understand that not every clinic is providing bad care. If that were the case, this is an easy decision."
According to an affidavit in the Church Street bankruptcy filing earlier this year, "more than 1.5 million patients have been served during the past five years, improving overall dental health and access to care in many low-income areas in the 22 states in which the Company has had a presence."
Chris and Loretta Trujillo are grateful for the care the Small Smiles in Denver provides their children. They say it is very difficult to find dentists who take Medicaid and their children, Jordan, Jazmin and Faith, have never had a bad experience.
"My kids have never been scared coming here," said mom Loretta. "They're excited to come."
The Inspector General's office is taking on Small Smiles on a clinic-by-clinic basis, vigorously monitoring them and assessing penalties when appropriate.
"We have taken targeted and aggressive action against the clinics that provided bad care while allowing the company to provide good necessary care at the other clinics," she said, adding that the clinics are showing marked improvements since a new CEO, David Wilson, came on in June.
"The company as it operates today is simply not the same as the company that was repeatedly violating the agreement," Re insists.
In a statement to NBC News, CSHM's Wilson wrote, "Patients are at the center of everything we do at CSHM. CSHM LLC supports our affiliated dental centers so that they can continue to provide access to quality dental care. Our dental centers serve approximately one million patient visits per year, primarily to children in communities with under-served access to dental care."
Following an alarming audit of the Small Smiles clinic in Youngstown, Ohio that found substandard and unnecessary care, the new management company, which had just been formed, fired nine dentists there. The Inspector General's office called that action encouraging.
CSHM stressed its commitment to quality care. "Under the new management team, more than 50 new dentists have joined CSHM affiliated centers and the company continues to support their ongoing efforts to recruit qualified dentists."
That is simply not enough for Jasmine Brown. "I don't want anybody else's child to have to go through what my son went through, especially being that young. That's traumatic. That's something that could follow him the rest of his life."
Jasmine is now holding down two jobs — one as a pharmacy tech at CVS, the other as a security guard at a men and women's shelter. She says she can now afford to get Jamier the care he needs.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Report on Small Smiles Dental Centers to air

 

today show Tomorrow morning, Tuesday December 11, 2012 the Today Show will air a piece on Small Smiles Dental Centers – scheduled to air between 7:30 – 8:00 AM Eastern Time.
   

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Small Smiles Dental - Church Street Health Management Auction Postponed Until May 11-May 22 Hearing to Approve Any Offers.

Small Smiles Dental - Church Street Health Management Auction Postponed Until May 11

Church Street Health Management LLC will auction the business on May 11, rather than April 20. The provider of management services for 67 dental practices in 22 states reported a $2.1 million net loss in March on total revenue of $11.6 million.

Unless outbid, existing first-lien lenders are to buy the business in exchange for $25 million in debt. Other bids are now due May 4, rather than April 16. The hearing to approve the sale will take place May 22.

Isn’t this a nice way of saying it’s being “repo’d”?

The official creditors’ committee was given the right by the bankruptcy judge to require the company to turn over copies of insurance policies. The committee says that the largest unsecured claims are held by patients who say they were given services unnecessarily. Seeing the policies will help, the committee says, in deciding if the insurance company was entitled to deny coverage of the claims.

Church Street said in a monthly operating report filed with bankruptcy court that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in March were $867,000. Depreciation in the month was $986,000 and interest expense was $120,000.

Church Street specializes in providing dental care to children whose medical expenses are covered by government- sponsored programs. Bankruptcy resulted from a $24 million settlement in January 2010 with state and federal authorities that led to negative publicity and lawsuits.

The company’s debt is structured in compliance with Islamic Shariah financing regulations. There is about $131.5 million owing on first-lien obligations, plus a $25.6 million second- lien. There is an additional $152 million on three subordinated debts.

It’s only Shariah compliant because they created several companies between it and the First Islamic Bank a/k/a Arcapita.

Assets are on the books for $895 million, with debt totaling $303 million, a court filing says.

The case is In re Church Street Health Management LLC, 12- 01573, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville).

Selection of Bankruptcy Documents

Sunday, April 08, 2012

Catching up on Church Street and Small Smiles bankruptcy this Easter weekend finds whistleblowers still waiting on their good citizen reward.

I decided to read over some more of the thousands of pages filed on the Church Street Health Management/Small Smiles dental bankruptcy filings as we did our family travels this weekend. What caught my eye was a 140 page Affidavit of Service. The list was very interesting, and what,or should I say who, was on this listed was what really made an impression.

First, in my loose estimate there are some 800 to 1000 minor children who have lawsuits pending against this criminal enterprise for abuse, mistreatment or overtreatment and blatant malpractice.

Second, you know those whistleblowers who blew the lid off this particular criminal enterprise back in 2007 The one that finally reached a settlement in January 2010. Well, they are on the “notify” list, meaning they are to be “served” copies of all these documents, or most of them anyway.

Now, that means not only did Church Street Health Management and their host of Small Smiles dental centers fail to pay the fines (they call it a settlement) imposed by several states-some states have been paid more than others-but the whisleblowers have not received their full rewar$ for the hell they went through, filing lawsuits and turning these bastards into the Department of Justice.

There were two or three in the Virginia and DC area as well as Mr. Haney in South Carolina.

I think this issue on Whistleblowing needs some tweaking! One thing for sure, is criminals aren’t good credit risks.

Speaking of credit, Church Street Health Management and their Small Smiles centers sure have a lot of people to whom they owe a shit load of money. For a criminal enterprise to go belly up just over a year after the Feds begin keeping a much closer eye on their operations, by way of that Corporate Integrity Agreement, the CEO Michael Lindley signed, says a lot. A WHOLE LOT!

To me it says, unless we break the law, and commit malpractice on most of the children we profess to care so much about, to rip off Medicaid this business model is not for the profit minded.

I’ve not downloaded and read all the documents of the bankruptcy yet, but, I certainly will. I’ve not found their detailed list of Assets and Liabilities just yet. Last I read said basically they were working on it. I’m just guessing, but I bet this one has to be the one of the most creative “assets” lists the Federal Court system has ever seen.

I’m sure there will be some sort of “pecking” order to settle up these debts, whether there is some fool ass Wall Street firm or Private Equity scumbags to snatch up this hot mess company, which I doubt, by the way.

But the children they have abused and the ones still waiting out there to be compensated for their pain and suffering should be number one, the taxpayers number two and the whistleblowers number three and it would be a tie between, Al Smith, Michael Lindley or Steve Adair down there in Hilton Head last, and should be barred from any claim whatsoever! 

Some other notables on the list are:

Lisa DeRose;
Ameris – Lindley’s other business and the one that owns the plane and the condo in Florida; and,
Jake and Jenna Kochenberger

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Church Street Health Management Files for Bankruptcy With Plan for Sale - Bloomberg

I’m not really a betting person, but I’m guessing, the Small Smiles at Church Street Health Management are now down to wee little bitty smiles.  No, I’m sure they are down right frowns and have been for a while now. 
Want to take a guess where there is a ‘Big Smile” ? 
Maybe Interstate corporate dentistry is NOT exactly the investment Private Equity firms think it is! 
Read on…  documents related to the case at the end.
Church Street Health Management Files for Bankruptcy With Plan for Sale – Bloomberg
Church Street Health Management LLC and four affiliates, providers of management services to 67 dental centers, filed for bankruptcy as part of a plan to sell the businesses.
The companies had assets valued at $895.3 million and debt of $303.4 million, according to Chapter 11 documents filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Nashville, Tennessee, where Church Street is based.
A sale in bankruptcy is the “best option to maximize the value of the assets for stakeholders and to safeguard the welfare of the patients,” Martin McGahan, Church Street’s chief restructuring officer, said in court papers.
Affiliates Small Smiles Holding Co., Forba NY LLC, EEHC Inc. and Forba Services Inc. also sought court protection from creditors. Small Smiles is the parent of a group of companies that provide management services to dental centers serving low- income families in 22 states.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Church Street Health Management’s New Members for 2011

Church Street Health Management finally filed their annual report July 17, 2011 with the Kentucky Secretary of State.

Noticeable changes are the “Managers”,  A Carlyle Group member finally emerges from the shadows.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Carlyle Group’s Susan Kasser, board member of Shari’s Management Corporation, joins the board of Church Street Health Management/Small Smiles Dental Centers

Kasser has been with the Caryle Group since 2004, prior to that she was at Goldman Sachs, surprise  surprise.

Here is her profile from the Carlyle Group website:
Susan Kasser is a Principal with Carlyle Mezzanine Partners, focusing on junior debt investments in support of leveraged buyouts, growth capital, and recapitalizations, primarily in North America and Europe.  Ms. Kasser is based in New York.

Since joining Carlyle in 2004, Ms. Kasser has been actively involved in current portfolio companies American Achievement Corporation, BioReliance Corporation, Church Street Health Management, Hudson Products Corporation, INC Research and Shari’s Restaurant Group.  Ms. Kasser was also actively involved in the investments in Applied Systems Inc, Sanitors, Inc, and US Investigations Services, which have been fully realized.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Is Church Street Health Management the new World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools?

 

Is Church Street Health Management-Small Smiles Dental- the current World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS)?  What about NCDR.LLC-Kool Smiles Dental?

WWASPS billed itself as an “umbrella organization” of independent institutions for education and treatment of troubled teenagers.  So does CSHM.  CSHM insists it only manages independent dental clinics.

WWASPS mistreats minor for federal dollars.  So does CSHM.  In fact CSHM’s top management, who are 4 of it’s board members, operated the same kind of facilities WWASPS does, under the name Keys Group Holding,LLC.  Isn’t that odd. 

WWASPS sued a mom who spoke out against their cruelty to children.  So did CSHM.  - Me.

WWASPS sued for mistreating children.  So is CSHM.

WWASPS expose’ was featured by PBS. 

 

Related:

Crimes and Corruption
Romney, Toture and Teens
Over The GW , by Nick – film about these camps for abuse

Monday, December 27, 2010

FORBA Holding, LLC Changes Name Once Again ; Now Church Street Health Management, LLC

Another name change for FORBA!
No Big Surprise, most companies who end up with a horrible reputation do a name change, but the leopard never changes it's spots.  They can change their name weekly if they want, but what they do and how they do it isn't changing.

Look for your "One Call Sees All" card in the mail, advertising they are accepting adult patients.

Wonder what happened to the sales pitch surrounding FORBA - For Better Access?
 
FORBA Holdings, LLC is now
Church Street Health Management, LLC  or CSHM

The name changed was filed today, in Colorado, December 23, 2010 at 2:24PM 

Look For Letter Head and Business Card To Be Ready To Go By January 1, 2011
Clinic
Big Smiles and Small Smiles, since they are treating adults now.