After our article about the need for a review of Medicaid dental fees was published in May, we received a number of comments from dentists about how the lack of a fee increase is impeding service to their clients and … Read More
TDMR has learned that a number of Medicaid dentists around the state have been receiving informal letters from the Office of Inspector General about their billings. Avoid formal process Apparently, OIG is looking to resolve billing situations informally rather than … Read More
PRESS RELEASE BY Sun Life Financial Inc. Jun 01, 2022, 08:27 ET BOSTON and WELLESLEY, Mass., TORONTO, June 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ – Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSX: SLF) (NYSE: SLF), through its U.S. business, announced today the completion of its acquisition of DentaQuest, the second-largest dental benefits provider … Read More
It is with some irony that a company that has been found guilty of insurance fraud by a jury in Delaware (and apparently colluding with the Texas Office of the Attorney General to do so) is still a major player in … Read More
Everyone remembers the Frew case back in 2004 when the Supreme Court forced Texas to provide basic healthcare services including dental care for Medicaid-eligible children. Reason for fee increase in 2007 For those that don’t remember, let’s recap. Linda Frew, … Read More
In March TDMR reported on the federal HHS-OIG report about the 2021 cumulative activities of state Medicaid Fraud Control Units around the country. As there were no state breakdowns, we filed an access to information request with the Office of … Read More
This was posted on the Texas HHS-OIG website yesterday. Thought we would republish.. ————————— Ensuring Texas Medicaid dollars are spent for their intended purpose requires the OIG to work with health care professionals to prevent fraud, waste and abuse. Accurate … Read More
The list of complaints about DentaQuest from Medicaid providers keeps growing. It seems that new Canadian ownership hasn’t changed any business practices so far, but we hear they like their money too. While some problems have been reported about MCNA … Read More
The following article was supplied by Texas HHS-OIG. Keeping accurate and complete patient records is part of providing quality patient care. Good record keeping can also help protect a practice against allegations of wrongdoing. The patient record is a legal … Read More
TDMR received an email notification today that Texas HHS is looking for a Dental Policy Analyst to assist in advanced complex dental and medical benefits policy analysis, development and consultation. No necessary dental requirements The odd about the advertisement for … Read More
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General recently released its 2021 Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCU) Fiscal Year 2021 Annual Report. Investigates criminal fraud Medicaid Fraud Control Units have the job of investigating criminal fraud by … Read More
Just received this notification today. NOTICE OF STAKEHOLDER MEETING March 11, 2022 The Texas State Board of Dental Examiners will host a Stakeholder Meeting Friday, March 11, 2022 at 1:00 PM The meeting will be in person and broadcast via Zoom … Read More
The Houston Chronicle broke a bombshell story today (paywall, unfortunately). This ortho story still has legs. OAG assisted company they were suing to defraud insurer The Chronicle reported that the Office of the Attorney General had secretly made last-minute modifications … Read More
TDMR has done a review of the Texas Medicaid dental maintenance organization contract available publicly on the Texas HHS website and found a requirement that all medical necessity determinations be based on “valid and reliable clinical evidence or a consensus … Read More
We found an article recently published on the OIG website that we thought should be republished here. Providers encouraged to self-report errors More providers are participating in the OIG self-audit process so they can determine if they need to self-disclose … Read More
The 2021 annual report published by Texas HHS-OIG on fraud and abuse recoveries by MCOs and DMOs again shows a minimal amount of Medicaid fraud being found and recovered considering the state’s whooping multi-billion dollar healthcare budget. For 2020/2021, the … Read More
It has been reported in two Florida business publications this week that children of the late MCNA founder Dr. Jeffrey Feingold have sold the company’s headquarters in Ft. Lauderdale to a Florida capital firm. According to The Real Deal, a … Read More
TDMR published a letter from a dentist a month ago who expressed their outrage about DMO self-made rules that restrict and inhibit treatment of young Medicaid-eligible children to their detriment. Now that the holiday season is well out of the … Read More
It is remarkable that in a state that cherishes free enterprise, it is okay for dental maintenance organizations to offer money and other inducements to encourage parents with Medicaid-eligible children to use their company yet it is a crime for … Read More
After our article last month on rate and coverage drops in Webb county for Medicaid waiver patients when DentaQuest took over the program, it didn’t take too long for us to be contacted about similar concerns within CHIP and children’s … Read More
We just received a press release from the Office of the Attorney General. Paxton Stops Vaccine Mandate for Healthcare Workers AUSTIN -Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a preliminary injunction for the State of Texas, stopping the Biden Administration from imposing vaccine mandates on the employees of Medicaid and Medicare providers and suppliers. “This … Read More
Almost three hundred seniors and patients with disabilities were stranded mid-treatment plan in Laredo thanks to a change in dental insurance providers in July of this year. Since 2017, Dr. Amin Abdul of the Asclepius Dental Center of Laredo has … Read More
Texas Medicaid dental providers should know that DentaQuest was purchased by Canadian group benefits giant Sun Life Financial Inc, the country’s largest. The sale took place back in early October. The price? $2.475 billion US. Bloomberg reported: The acquisition gives … Read More
On Friday, TDMR received an email notification from the Office of the Governor that its Regulatory Compliance Division is now reviewing and accepting public comments on the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners rule change to establish the standards of … Read More
This is a trial balloon. We’ve written numerous articles about the need for changes to the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act. The Act needs to be a deterrent for real fraudsters, not a state-supported protection racket to be used against … Read More
Dr. Jeffery Feingold passed away on October 7 after a battle with cancer at the age of 75. His passing has received little press attention. Surprisingly, no major media have reported on it considering Dr. Feingold’s important contribution to healthcare … Read More
Last week TDMR obtained a copy of the latest HHS Ombudsman report on complaints about managed care to the agency from Medicaid clients. The report contains a significant section on Dental Managed care. Medicaid dentists may not get a copy … Read More
Our last story on reputationally challenged qui tam relator Joshua Lafountain and the highly questionable settlements forced from a large number of Medicaid dental entities, supported by the Office of the Attorney General, brought about an outraged comment from an … Read More
Back in 2020, we started reporting on the various whistleblower claims brought by Joshua Lafountain, a former dental office manager in Dallas with no formal dental training, against 71 various Medicaid dentists and dental entities. Although he had never worked … Read More
After our last article about possible termination from a DMO’s network for filing a complaint with HHS before all company complaint procedures have been exhausted, we picked up online copies of the Medicaid Provider manuals for DentaQuest, MCNA and UnitedHealthcare … Read More
Dr. Janice Reardon, Chief Dental Officer of the Office of Inspector General, has been honored with the Lifetime Membership Award by the Texas Dental Association. The award recognizes her 30 years of continuous membership in the TDA. A graduate of … Read More
After we published our article last week about the HHS complaint line and its email address, we received a few emails from dentists. Several were excited about the possibility of complaining to HHS about their DMO troubles, but one had … Read More
We received an email from a dentist a few weeks ago who was having trouble with a particular DMO. In the process of trying to assist them, we reached out to Texas HHS in an attempt to find a state-level … Read More
Our 2021 survey of Texas dental maintenance organizations is complete and the results have been compiled. Survey says: long-term providers MCNA and DentaQuest have improved their performance in the minds of Medicaid dentists from previous years while newcomer United Healthcare … Read More
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General just published an audit report this week that Texas paid out incorrectly $922,557 in CHIP payments to Medicaid managed care organizations. Now a million dollars in the … Read More
Medicaid fraud or fraud of any type is serious business, and something TDMR decries. Those low enough to use their position as healthcare professionals to bilk federal and state governments for personal gain that cheats the taxpayer and young underprivileged … Read More
SURVEY IS CLOSED As we come out of the pandemic and into a hopefully normal July 4 weekend, TDMR is issuing our annual survey to find out how dental maintenance organizations have been performing for Medicaid dentists over the last … Read More
On Tuesday, Texas HHS OIG sent out its June email newsletter. Out of the three articles promoted, one is again about dental Medicaid issues. This time the article is about common billing errors committed by Medicaid dentists, an article that … Read More
This past week the Attorney General of Texas sent out a press release that deemed agency personnel who had complained about potential conflicts of interest by the AG himself were “rogue political appointees” rather than whistleblowers because they had only … Read More
AUSTIN — Texas has the highest number and percentage of uninsured children in the country. According to the United States Census, the child uninsured rate in Texas rose from 9.8% in 2016 to 12.7%, over double the national average, in … Read More
