BUSINESS BRIEFS: Padula chosen citizen of year - The Pueblo Chieftain–more like snake of the century! GAG!

 

The Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce will honor Center for American Values founder Adolph "Rudy" Padula with its annual Citizen of the Year award, the group announced Monday.

   The award presentation will take place at the chamber's annual dinner Thursday night at the Pueblo Convention Center. Tickets remain available for the event. For reservations, call 542-1704.

   Padula, a Pueblo dentist for nearly 40 years, launched the Center for American Values several years ago. He purchased and renovated The Waterford, a large, aged building on the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo, into a new retail-office building that also is home to the center's meeting room and Medal of Honor portrait display.

BUSINESS BRIEFS: Padula chosen citizen of year - The Pueblo Chieftain: Local Business

UPDATED: TX Medicaid combats overuse of kids' braces -- 22 visits a year! | Trail Blazers Blog | dallasnews.com

 

UPDATE, 3:30 p.m.: The attorney general's office has 31 orthodontists under investigation for possible Medicaid fraud, David Maxwell, the office's deputy director of law enforcement, testified to the House panel. According to Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, the panel's chairwoman, 24 percent of the nearly 80,000 children who last year received orthodontic services from Medicaid were under the age of 12. State social services czar Tom Suehs testified that, starting in March, the minimum age for treatment of severe misalignment of upper and lower teeth will be 13. "Some of our providers out there gamed and manipulated the system," Suehs testified. "I won't use the word fraud. ... Clearly, we didn't have some of the controls we should've had."

ORIGINAL POST: Poor youngsters in Texas who were put into braces courtesy of taxpayers saw their orthodontist an average of 22 times in fiscal 2010, state Medicaid chiefs said in testimony they were to give to a legislative panel Tuesday.

"Typically, 12 visits per year is expected," said the written testimony by Medicaid chiefs Tom Suehs (right) and Billy Millwee to the House Public Health Committee.

Read the rest – click below

UPDATED: TX Medicaid combats overuse of kids' braces -- 22 visits a year! | Trail Blazers Blog | dallasnews.com

You may have paper clips in your root canal too! -Michael Clair Guilty Plea

A Massachusetts dentist plead guilty yesterday of Medicaid fraud and assault and jury tampering. Michael Clair had been banned from providing services to Medicaid patients, yet, but in so many cases these days, that means little. He still managed to collect $130,000 in fraudulent reimbursement. He would have other dentists in the dental practice provide billing services for work he did, in order to service Medicaid patients. He also managed to get his staff to fill prescriptions and give him the pills.  Tsk Tsk  His dental license had been revoked in Maryland, West Virginia and Florida, but Mass let him in!  Yes, those dental boards are fantastic!!  NOT!

A couple of sad things, one, it took 4 years to get here!  There were anonymous reports to the dental board (yes, I'm 100000% positive on that and they weren't so anonymous!), many other letters of concern and pleas for someone to stop this man. His dental license was suspended in 2006 and he's supposedly barred form practicing dentistry, which means, he's probably already open another office.

The second, sad, and oh so scary thing is, you may have paper clips in your mouth too! Today I received the following email:

Hi there,

I saw your post regarding the dentist in Mass that "did a root canal with a paperclip. I am not defending him at all. I just wanted to let you know that the use of a paperclip as part of a provisional crown is a legitimate technique. Now, I have no knowledge of the legitimacy of billing this to Medicaid. Attached is a photograph I just took from Herb Schillenberg's "Fundamentals of Fixed Prosthodontics" 3rd edition. This is the most cited text book on the market on the subject of fixed prosthodontics.

Thank you for your time,

DrJ

Thanks Dr. J

Victim Talks About Paper Clip Root Canal - Boston News Story - WCVB Boston

Michael Clair's trial was to start today:

Michael Clair, the former owner of Harbour Dental in the New Harbour Mall, pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud and to charges that he substituted paper clips for stainless steel dental posts in dental procedures.

Clair will be sentenced on Jan. 30 in Superior Court.

Clair, 53, now of Maryland, was scheduled to begin trial today in Superior Court on a total of 15 charges including fraud, assault, illegally prescribing drugs and coercing office staff to remain quiet about the conduct.

Instead, he offered to plead guilty to two counts of assault, three counts of larceny, five counts of Medicaid fraud, three counts of writing illegal prescriptions, one count of tampering with evidence and one count of intimidating a witness, according to a release from Attorney General Martha Coakley.

Clair remains free on bail pending his sentencing.

Read more: http://www.heraldnews.com/breaking/x2018890459/Fall-River-dentist-who-used-paper-clips-pleads-guilty-before-trial#ixzz1kJtyV9DY

Victim Talks About Paper Clip Root Canal - Boston News Story - WCVB Boston

Dr. Michael Clair's license was revoked in Maryland for 5 years, but that didn't save patients in Massachusetts

Four Winds Health, Midwest Dental, Kool Smiles Dental and Friedman Fleischer & Lowe (FFL)

From FFL website:
Four Winds Health, LLC was formed to build and manage a chain of high-end urgent care centers that offer walk-in, extended-hour access for non-life-threatening acute injuries and illnesses. Through its centers, Four Winds is focused on creating a superior patient experience through the delivery of convenient, comfortable, high-quality medical care.
Four Winds is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. The company was formed by the same management team which previously founded Kool Smiles, another FFL investment. FFL provided founding capital to Four Winds in 2011


Midwest Dental is a leading dental practice management company with over 75 clinics in six states. Midwest Dental clinics are typically located in suburban and rural areas, and the company has demonstrated an impressive track record of growth through acquisitions of independent dental clinics. The company provides the clinics with a full range of management, administrative and financial services, allowing clinical staff to allocate more of their time to patient care.
Midwest Dental is located in Mondovi, WI. FFL acquired the company in 2011 and plans to provide additional capital to support future acquisitions.
 

NCDR, LLC provides various non-clinical services to dental group practices, including providing dental facilities, support staff, and other business services. NCDR's principal [ONLY] client is Kool Smiles, a nationally-branded provider of dental care focused primarily on children enrolled in Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Programs. The limited access to care for children on Medicaid/SCHIP plans provides an attractive growth opportunity for Kool Smiles as it continues to expand offices with a mission to provide quality care to this underserved population.

The company is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. FFL invested in NCDR in 2004 to provide growth capital and liquidity to founders.

R. Kirk Huntsman’s- The Beginning: Reachout Healthcare America-Dental One, Nexus Dental Alliance and more

Last September(2011) R. Kirk Huntsman’s was featured at a seminar entitled “Beat The Dental Practice Management Companies”  Warning attendees of the “Walmart Effect” taking over dentistry.

Yet, among many other ventures in Dental Practice Management, R. Kirk Huntsman has been Managing Partner of Montage Venture Group LLC since March 2010, according to Business Week. 

R. Kirk Huntsman Bio from Nexus Dental Alliance, his virtual Dental Management company.  Virtual, meaning you just “pretend”, “not real”? 

Mr. Huntsman has been active in the dental industry for over 23 years.

Yet, never took time to become a dentist, wonder why?  If he was so into it, you’d have thought he would want to actually be one, right?

In 1988, he became the Dallas/Ft. Worth licensee for Associated Financial Transition Consultants, Inc.(AFTCO Associates,) a dental practice brokerage company with over 65 offices nationwide.  Within two years, his was the top performing office in the nation.   In 1991, he acquired the Houston license and continued to rapidly expand. 

By 1995, he was ready to begin owning and operating practices, so he launched Dental One as a dental management services organization, or DMSO.

In 1995, as well as today, it was illegal for a non-dentist to own dental practices!  I guess Mr. Huntsman failed to read the following page of info over at the AFTCO website, but it’s easy to see how he could become confused, since it’s written in a lot of double speak BS. Plus, it used the word “Goodwill” which I’m sure is not in his vocabulary.  Had the word, “Greed” been used, it would have had his complete attention.  Here is what is on the AFTCO’s website:

Orthodontics for sale- Texas

I was over on a dental practice brokerage firm site and wondered how many orthodontic clinics might be up for sale in Texas.  Surprisingly there were only two currently listed, however I’m guessing right now you can’t give them away down there…  Anyway, I saw this one and thought it amusing.
Specialty: Orthodontics
Number of Operatories:
Active Patient Count:
One Year Gross:
Opportunity Type:
Practice for Sale
DALLAS – 5 locations - Multi-Million Dollar Investment Opportunity! One owner wishes to sell all locations to the next “Dentist – Entrepreneur”. All staff and associates are to stay. Ideal for more than one Doc willing to “partner up” with a colleague or two. If you are an Oral Surgeon, Pedodontist, Endodontist or Orthodontist you can even have all of these offices refer to your specialty practice. Each facility computerized for easy practice management. Don’t go to work today! Let others “bring home the bacon” for you! Be a contributing clinician in this large operation or just the investor owner. Too much information to list in this ad regarding each location.

Fortune CNN Money article on a New Jersey Medicaid dental clinic

I was a bit offended by the attitude of these piece, but isn’t that the case when the press speaks of the less fortunate, poor or temporarily down on their luck.

It was titled Building a business with unwanted customers”, so I guess I had an attitude before I read it. 

My first thought was; of all the dental centers out there geared to treat child whose parents have fallen on hard times, why this one? 

All the right buzz words and phrases the dental mills use today - “Underserved” and ”Target Patients on Medicaid” for example – were used perfectly.  Even the added “nobility” factor was included – “believes that treating the underserved can make for good business.”

By the end of the article it sounded more like a story about a business in the ‘hometown” section of the local newspaper, not CNN Money.

This may be a fantastic dental center, I don’t know.  All I know is what I read and it had the sound of a local, one shop, assembly line style dental center.  That was until I saw the logo. Continue on and you’ll see what I mean.

Hiring a Compliance Specialist does not Compliance make. Just Saying...

Church Street Health Management is once again looking for a "Compliance Specialist".

Compliant Specialist Wanted
http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?Job_DID=J3I2D86WBVZR3TMPCNQ&siteid=cb_emailjob_US

I'm beginning to believe they don't understand how Compliance actually works or may they have comprehension dyslexia, where they understand rules, regulations, laws and agreements backwards.

Anyway, just hiring Compliance Personnel does little to actually "comply". You, the company actually have to take part. Compliance does not happen by osmosis.

I don't know how many folks you will find willing agree to possible Federal jail time just so you can continue defrauding Medicaid. I think those have all been used, come and gone.

However, I am willing to come down and show you every compliance issue you have if you are still having problems understanding it, you've only been trying since 2006!!!!

One thing you might want to look at immediately is the x-ray unbundling, upcoding as well as that nasty occlusal or not occlusal problem! Oh and are you returning the 44.00 per straight-jacketed child you are paid from Indiana?

Just saying...

Small Smiles Dental Centers Liquidation Sale? That’s the latest word I’m getting

Many fake owner dentists have been removed from service, Dr Chu in Phoenix for example has dropped out of sight. Employees have been asking questions for some time and despite denials from company officials, clinics are closing across the county by February 7, 2012.  The Toledo center closed the Friday before Christmas.  (employees found out by seeing the emails between corporate and Dr. Olivia Croom-stupid woman)

(Dr. Karen Chu is listed as owning all the stock in the Children’s Medicaid Dental Center, PC in Arizona, with William Nash as President and Chu as Vice-president.  Of course, Chu owns all of nothing but if I were her, I’d be demanding some further compensation since this is probably the end of the end for her dental career, all the other fake owners as well, like Dr. Monica Switzer in Oklahoma)

The rest of the clinics are up for sale.  Their corporate owner-Church Street Heath Management-Small Smiles Holdings- is trying to pawn the clinics off on individual dentists. Surely CSHM is not stupid enough to offer them financing or management services!  Surely any individual dentist is not stupid enough to take it!  Ask the one dentist who truly does own a piece of his center’s pie.  (Not sure, but I believe that is Dr. Michael Crites.)

Financing should be very difficult for any dentist who might want to purchase any of the clinics since the true income for each center will be difficult to obtain, if not impossible.

In cases where Church Street Health Management does hand over the numbers, they will be based on inflated revenue by the corporation's requirements of overtreatment, up coding (x-rays for example) and out right fraud that continues to this day.

To get an accurate idea of what any center's true income is impossible. Not one of the Small Smiles dental centers has ever operated in a honest professional manner, following any guidelines based in anything other than their own greed; first the DeRose family-Eddie, Michael and Dan, then in fall 2006 the Carlyle Group and First Islamic Bank k/n/a Arcaptia.

As for dentist who work there or have worked there in the past, look for lawsuits to follow you for years to come.

For those who did your best to represent your profession well and treated your patients properly , you should have nothing to be concerned about.

For those that fell under the spell and drank the Kool-aid; assisted in the fraud and abused children, you will get what you deserve. People always do.

For the innocent support staff who will lose jobs, get your resume's out now and I would double think mentioning Small Smiles as a past employer and personally I would not be applying at the other mills, Small Smiles is just the first domino to fall.


The clinics include:

Albany Access Dentistry
Small Smiles of Phoenix
Children’s Medicaid Dental Clinics
Texas Smiles
Oklahoma Smiles
Indian Springs Dental Center