Corporate Dentist Quotas

Unbeknownst to you, corporate dentists often must fulfill patient and productivity quotas.

The landscape of dentistry is changing and a large portion of the patient population may not be aware that they are at risk.  Dentistry’s history has been primarily a history of privately owned dental practices, like ours.  Your doctor owned the practice.  The fees you pay would go directly to running the business, paying the staff and anything left over would go to the doctor.  The doctor owned the office and made decisions free of outside influence.

Instead of these vested partners and committed practitioners, dentists working for corporate dental organizations are employees and must fulfill certain obligations, in terms of hours logged, procedures performed, and hours fulfilled. Production is often monitored, and dentists are required to send daily stats to corporate offices, detailing the minutiae of their work day. These dentists have little-to-no input in their work in a corporate dental setting, which also means there is little-to-no room for them to recommend or provide creative solutions to complex dental problems for patients that they would be able to do in their own practice.

Essentially, they are working to pad their dental corporation’s bottom line, which means they are focusing more on money than on your vital patient care. Young employee dentists in corporate dental offices with huge dental school debts may recommend more treatment than is actually needed, or warranted.

Examples of these practices have been demonstrated by national chain of dental clinics theoretically founded to provide services to underserved communities and its management company has agreed to a $23.9 million settlement with the Justice Department for allegedly submitting false Medicaid claims for “medically unnecessary” procedures performed on children.

For some patients, they could care less about any of this.  If the corporate office is advertising cheap dentistry, that’s all that matters to them.  For them, dentistry and periodic cleanings are like oil changes for the mouth.   For other patients, they see the value of doing business with people in their community where the doctor is the only one making the decisions in regards to their health.

The good news is that the majority of dental offices are still privately owned and the owner is in the building and treating patients.  If you’re not sure what kind of office you’re in, ask.   If you have an issue, the owner doctor should be available to help you.  It’s our name on the door and it’s our reputation on the line.

If we can be of service feel free to give us a call.

Novy Scheinfeld, DDS, PC

ZoAnna Scheinfeld, MS, DMD

Hanna Orland, DMD

290 Carpenter Drive, 200A

Sandy Springs, GA 30328

404-256-3620

And

3781 Chamblee Dunwoody Road

Chamblee, GA 30341

770-455-6076

info@rightsmilecenter.com

www.rightsmilecenter.com

Prevent Acid Dental Erosion

There are a number of things you can do:

• Only drink acidic food and drinks, and fizzy drinks, and sodas  at mealtimes. This will reduce the number of acid incidents on your teeth.
• Drink quickly, without ‘swishing’ it around your mouth. Or use a straw to avoid long contact with your teeth.
• A meal with cheese or milk will help cancel out the acid.
• Chew sugar-free gum after eating. This produces more saliva to help cancel out the acids which form in your mouth after eating.
• Wait at least one hour after eating or drinking anything acidic before brushing your teeth. This gives time to build up your teeth’s mineral content again.
• Brush your teeth before bedtime and at least once during the day, with fluoride toothpaste. Use a brush with medium to soft bristles.
• Use a toothpaste with a fluoride.
• Spit after brushing and do not rinse, so that the fluoride stays on your teeth longer.

And finally,

As well as using a fluoride toothpaste, our dental team may suggest additional treatment.

Novy Scheinfeld, DDS, PC

ZoAnna Schienfeld, MS, DMD

Hanna Orland, DMD

290 Carpenter Drive, 200A

Sandy Springs, GA 30328

404-256-3620

and

3781 Chamblee Dunwoody Road

Chamblee, GA 30341

770-455-6076

info@rightsmilecenter.com

www.rightsmilecenter.com

Mismanaged Dental Care Harms Every Patient

Xerox Pays $236 Million to Settle State of Texas Dental Fraud Case

Xerox became the State of Texas’ Medicaid administrator in 2003. According to the lawsuit by the Texas Attorney General, between 2004 and 2012, Texas expended approximately $1.1 billion on orthodontics under the Texas Medicaid program. According to the State’s lawsuit, Xerox, and ACS, Inc. before it, repeatedly represented to Texas Medicaid officials that their prior authorization system ensured proper predeterminations of qualifications.

The State’s lawsuit alleged that Xerox violated the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act and “rubber-stamped” prior authorization requests by unqualified clerical employees, allowing “vast numbers” of orthodontic procedures for children whose condition did not meet Medicaid criteria for treatment. The company, formerly known as Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., before Xerox acquired it, was
also accused of making false statements or representations in Medicaid filings
with the state.

Example after example of government fraud, and yet a disproportionate number of Americans still want their healthcare under a single payer system.

The settlement comes after a three-year WFAA investigation that uncovered millions of dollars in alleged overbilling by Texas dentists targeting low-income children for unnecessary and often harmful dental and orthodontic work.

The shame is that people think government run healthcare is the better way to deliver  services. We think the better way is free market fee for service in the absence of colluding insurance companies and lazy government agencies administering your care.

We offer our patients a personal experience. We focus on the benefits to you, which include quality care, individual treatment and creative solutions, and the expert dental professional of your choice each visit, no “over-treatment” and no “government mismanaged” healthcare.

Novy Scheinfeld, DDS, PC

ZoAnna Scheinfeld, MS, DMD

Hanna Orland, DMD

290 Carpenter Drive, 200A

Sandy Springs, GA 30328

404-256-3620

And

Chamblee Dunwoody Road

Chamblee, GA 30341

770-455-6076

info@rightsmilecenter.com

www.rightsmilecenter.com

Corporate DENTIST THE MENACE

Are they managed neglect or managed care?

Under these corporate practices, the insurance companies list the dental provider as the corporate entity, not a licensed dentist.  If you go in for an exam, you are suddenly told you need hundreds to thousands of dollars’ worth of work, much of which is barely covered by insurance. The dental work may not even be needed.  Check the complaints on Monarch Dental as an example.  You would think the Dental Board would have stopped the damage by now.

The insurance companies try to further enhance their profits by using these type offices to keep costs low in this economy. Insurance companies were quick to catch on to a plan that focused on efficiency and savings for their interests, so they were instrumental in creating and selling these dental programs to employers.

As a result, employers are dropping their PPO dental insurance for the cheaper HMO policies.  Dental insurance companies can then assign these PPO patients, who used to have freedom to choose their dentist, to these corporate offices.  Dental insurance is always beneficial to the insurance companies, like Las Vegas Casinos.  Unlike health insurance, it is non catastrophic, and it is rarely cost effective for you, the insured.

Your problem is:

1. Dentists are seen as employees of the dental corporations.
2. Dentists have to fulfill patient and productivity quotas.
3. Dentists in these settings often lack significant experience.
4. Dentists in these settings come and go.
5. And there’s an overuse of 3^rd party finance companies involved

We get it.   These organizations are trying to commoditize your oral healthcare, by  offering low fee special introductory offers, discounts and promotions, including things like free tests, cleanings and exams.  What we want you to know is ‘what happens after those offers run out and private practitioners go the way of medicine’?

We offer our patients a personal experience. We focus on the benefits to you, which include quality care, individual treatment and creative solutions, and the expert dental professional of your choice each visit, no “over-treatment” and no “forced credit cards”.

Novy Scheinfeld, DDS, PC

ZoAnna Scheinfeld, MS, DMD

Hanna Orland, DMD

290 Carpenter Drive, 200A

Sandy Springs, GA 30328

404-256-3620

And

Chamblee Dunwoody Road

Chamblee, GA 30341

770-455-6076

info@rightsmilecenter.com

www.rightsmilecenter.com