A group of dental clinics in Minnesota is suing Delta Dental, claiming Delta is wrongfully withholding $2.8 million in reimbursements, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
In a lawsuit filed April 14, five Smile Center Clinics, which provide dental care to low-income patients and employ 34 dentists and 40 dental hygienists, accuse Delta Dental of Minnesota of using its "economic stranglehold" to force its dentists to provide less care than the low-income enrollees deserve, the Star Tribune reported.
Delta Dental said it suspected fraud because "the clinics provided significantly more services per patient than other clinics that serve poor Minnesotans," according to the article.
"Delta now claims that the level of care plaintiffs have given these patients is itself somehow evidence of wrongdoing," the complaint states. "In other words, it is not that plaintiffs have failed to care for these public program patients, but rather that plaintiffs have for them too well."
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