dental Medicaid

One Dentist in Three Accepts Medicaid (video)

June 8, 2010 By Julie Frey 2 Comments

Two-thirds of dentist respondents do not accept Medicaid payments, this survey found.

General dentists are three times as likely to accept Medicaid as are specialists. In addition, the majority of rural dentists do accept Medicaid, whereas most of their urban and suburban colleagues do not.

"I don't treat these patients for the money," said a Rhode Island orthodontist. "I treat them because they are children who need orthodontic care that may influence the rest of their lives. A healthy smile may open the world to them! That's what we went into this profession for."

A Minnesota pediatric dentist agreed: "It is an ethical and moral obligation to see these people. It is embarrassing that more of our colleagues do not treat some portion of this population in need."

“Any dentist would have to be NUTS to accept Medicaid," offered a Florida dentist. "If you are even suspected of impropriety, say by a disgruntled employee, the Feds can SHUT YOU DOWN. Yes, on suspicion only! They can freeze your assets and shut your practice down. It could be years before you get due process. The risks are truly tremendous. And it's for a pittance, for pennies on the dollar. I know of one dentist who is in JAIL and lost his license over $8000 in clerical errors over a period of five years! I wouldn't accept Medicaid if they offered DOUBLE my fees."

Dental Management Company Pays $24M Settlement

January 24, 2010 By Julie Frey 3 Comments

The largest dental management company in the US is paying $24 million to settle claims of Medicaid fraud.

Forba Holdings LLC owns 68 "Small Smiles" dental clinics where pediatric dentists serve half a million low-income children in 22 states.

According to the Justice Department, the clinics filed claims for unnecessary pediatric dentistry – including so-called "baby root canals" and other possibly risky procedures.

Forba has agreed to pay $24 million to settle the lawsuits, but did not admit wrongdoing. Their clinics remain open, still providing dentistry for children, though the dental management company will add precautions against future Medicaid fraud.

Of course there's a pediatric dentist here and there who's unscrupulous… but a dental practice management company with chronic billing "inconsistencies"?!? Not a good sign.

Filed Under: Legal, Practice Management Tagged With: dental billing, Dental Consulting, dental management, dental Medicaid, dental practice management, pediatric dentist, pediatric dentistry

Utah Tries (and Fails) to Slash Medicaid Payments to Dentists

January 12, 2010 By Julie Frey 1 Comment

Lucky for Utah dentists, a federal agency has vetoed Utah's plan to slash Medicaid payments to dentists.

While the state's dentists received a one-time 24% pay raise in 2008, Utah lawmakers recently reversed that. (And the dentists didn't get their 4.5% cost-of-living raise either.)

Understandably, Utah's dentists objected… and so did the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which rejected the plan on the grounds that it would make accessing services even more difficult for dental Medicaid patients – particularly kids seeking a pediatric dentist – not to mention seniors in need of false teeth.

Utah's Medicaid program will now have to scramble to cut other programs, as the 2010 budget relied on cutting dentist payments by $1.4 million.