The Indiana Attorney General's (AG) Office has filed an administrative complaint with the Indiana State Board of Dentistry against Allcare Dental & Dentures President Robert Bates, DDS, for multiple licensing violations.
In January 2011, Allcare Dental & Dentures abruptly closed all of its locations in the U.S., including several in Indiana: Indianapolis, Avon, Muncie, Fort Wayne, Mishawaka, and Evansville.
According to the AG's complaint, filed July 5, Dr. Bates gave a two-day notice to his Indiana employees that offices would close for two weeks beginning December 18, 2010. Days before the offices were set to reopen, Dr. Bates notified his workers that the offices would be permanently closed.
Violations noted in the complaint include failure to reimburse patients who paid upfront for services that were not completed, not completing dental procedures in progress, and failure to provide dentures that were already fabricated. The Board of Dentistry is unable to provide restitution to customers under Indiana law; however, consumer restitution is being sought separately by the AG's office through bankruptcy proceedings.
Dr. Bates' failure to notify patients of the closing violates state law, which requires dentists to notify all their active patients in writing or by publication once a week for three consecutive weeks in the newspaper, according to the AG's office.
Although employees were told to make arrangements with other doctors to transfer patient records, dentists were locked out of their offices and unable to do so, according to the complaint. Dentists are required to make reasonable arrangements with active patients to transfer records to them or the succeeding practitioner.
Massachusetts, West Virginia, North Dakota, Ohio, and New Hampshire also have taken actions against Bates' dental licenses in their respective states for similar violations. A licensed professional who faces disciplinary actions in other states and holds an Indiana license is also in violation of Indiana's law.
The Indiana State Board of Dentistry will determine whether any violation occurred and, if so, what disciplinary action to impose. The board is tentatively scheduled to hold a hearing on the complaint at its October 5 meeting.
