The Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) is voicing its support for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance's report that criticized large corporate dental practices that engage in deceptive overtreatment of patients.
The report was released on July 23 by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of finance committee, and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the ranking member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
The report is not a broad-brush discussion of all of the corporate models, noted W. Carter Brown, DMD, the AGD president-elect and chair of the AGD Corporate Dentistry Task Force. Instead, he characterized it as an in-depth analysis that states may use to determine when business models, actions, or contractual agreements of dental management companies may not be providing the appropriate level of treatment planning, care, and oversight.
The AGD believes the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) "should exclude from participating in the Medicaid program [Church Street Health Management], Small Smiles clinics, and any other corporate entity that employs a fundamentally deceptive business model resulting in a sustained pattern of substandard care."
Included in the report are discussions for improving the utilization of existing care by those who do not routinely seek care. The AGD said it does have concerns about one of the report's conclusions concerning nondentists being used to provide dental treatment to underserved populations.
