All Smiles Dental Professionals, P.C.,All Smiles Dental Centers is Open for Business
" () All Smiles Dental Centers. Retrieved on September 23, 2012. "4901 LBJ Freeway, Suite 300 , Dallas, Texas 75244" doing business as All Smiles Dental Centers, was a chain of dental clinics in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, United States, with its headquarters in

Farmers Branch Farmers Branch, officially the City of Farmers Branch, is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States. It is an inner-ring suburb of Dallas and is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its population was 28,616 at the 2010 census. Known ...

in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, near the City of Dallas.Jacobson, Sherry.
All Smiles Dental Centers turning away young Medicaid patients, closing clinics
" ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the '' Galvest ...

''. July 26, 2012. Retrieved on September 22, 2012. The chain operates dental clinics in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and in

Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Co ...

. The company ''All Smiles Dental Center, Inc.'' (ADSC) is the management service organization providing business support services to All Smiles Dental Professionals, P.C. The patients mostly consist of children in low-income Hispanic communities. As of May 2012, Valor Equity owned 72% of the company while founder Dr. Richard Malouf owned 28%.Harris, Byron.
All Smiles Dental Center files for bankruptcy following investigation
." ''

WFAA-TV WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur-licensed Estrella TV affiliate KMPX (channel 29) ...

''. May 4, 2012. Retrieved on September 22, 2012. As of July 2012 the company was one of the largest providers of dental services in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and has about 60,000 Medicaid patients. As of September 2012 the company has about 20 clinics in the State of Texas. In August 2013 South Texas Dental bought the company.

History

Dr. Richard Malouf, a

Lebanese American Lebanese Americans ( ar, أمريكيون لبنانيون) are Americans of Lebanese descent. This includes both those who are native to the United States of America, as well as immigrants from Lebanon. Lebanese Americans comprise 0.79% of the ...

, established the chain. It was founded in 2002. On March 22, 2008 an All Smiles dental clinic opened in a remodeled Carnival Food Stores store in eastern

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. History European settlers came to the area near ...

in the DFW area. It was the first of several planned in-store dental clinics.

Orthodontic operations and fraud accusations

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

decision stated that the State of Texas did not provide adequate dental care to socioeconomically disadvantaged children. As a result, five years prior to 2012, the state government added $1.4 million to the funds for providing dental services to poor children. This caused an increase in dental companies providing braces. Accordingly, the All Smiles company established its braces program. On one occasion the amount of money All Smiles billed Medicaid for braces equaled the amount that the State of Illinois spent on braces in Medicaid. For one two-year period All Smiles billed Medicaid for at least $15 million, overall twice the amount the entire State of Illinois billed Medicaid.Harris, Byron and Jason Trahan.
Texas AG lawsuits spurred by WFAA dental investigation
." ''

''. June 26, 2012. Updated on June 27, 2012. Retrieved on September 23, 2012. Three years prior to 2011, the company collected $5.4 million in Medicaid orthodontics expenses. The annual orthodontics bill increased almost twice to $10.2 million,Harris, Byron.
Tax money for unneeded braces goes to hedge funds
." ''

WFAA WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur-licensed Estrella TV affiliate KMPX (channel 29), ...

''. June 8, 2011. Retrieved on September 23, 2012. collected in the year 2010.Harris, Byron.
Congress examines Texas Medicaid orthodontics
." ''

''. April 25, 2012. Updated Thursday April 26, 2012. Retrieved on September 23, 2012. In 2011 All Smiles was one of the largest billers for braces in the State of Texas, and it had put braces on 1,000 children under the age of 12. The Medicaid program is only supposed to cover orthodontics if it corrects severe conditions such as

cleft lip and palate A cleft lip contains an opening in the upper lip that may extend into the nose. The opening may be on one side, both sides, or in the middle. A cleft palate occurs when the palate (the roof of the mouth) contains an opening into the nose. The ...

or complications from another condition, such as

Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...

or muscular dystrophy. Malouf and his wife Leanne were originally the sole owners of the chain. In 2010,Freedberg, Sydney P.
Dental Abuse Seen Driven by Private Equity Investments
" ''

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and m ...

''. May 17, 2012. Retrieved on September 12, 2012. Malouf sold much of the company to

Valor Equity Partners Valor, valour, or valorous may mean: * Courage, a similar meaning * Virtue ethics, roughly "courage in defense of a noble cause" Entertainment * Valor (band), a Christian gospel music group * Valor Kand, a member of the band Christian Death * ' ...

. The All Smiles company stated that Chris Roussos, a non-dentist, became the head of the company. In the fall of 2012, as part of an investigation examining Medicaid fraud in Texas, the state Medicaid program began auditing All Smiles. The Federal Government charged Malouf with fraudulent Medicaid billing for four years ending in the year 2007; the charges did not include his large Medicaid brace expenditures. In March 2012 the company signed a

corporate integrity agreement A corporate integrity agreement (CIA) is a document outlining the obligations that a company involved in health care in the United States makes with a federal government agency or a state government as part of a civil settlement. On the federal lev ...

pledging to improve billing practices and employee training with regulators from the federal and Texas state governments. During that month the company re-paid $1.2 million to Medicaid and did not admit to wrongdoing. In an April 2012 hearing, Dr. Christine Ellis, an orthodontist in the

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wo ...

region who served as one of the auditors, audited All Smiles claims from 2007 to 2011 and concluded that it had engaged in "overutilization" of benefits before and after the 2010 change in ownership. Ellis said that she complained about All Smiles to the

Texas State Board of Dental Examiners The Texas State Board of Dental Examiners (SBDE) is a state agency of Texas. It has its headquarters in Suite 8.600 at 1801 Congress Avenue in the George H. W. Bush State Office Building in Downtown Austin, Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: '' ...

but the board said that it was unable to handle the case. She said that she had discussed the matter with the

Texas Attorney General's Office The Texas attorney general is the chief legal officer
of the

and the Texas Office of Inspector General (OIF) for Medicaid, but that the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

had not contacted her. On May 2, 2012, All Smiles Dental Center, Inc. filed for

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

bankruptcy protection. In its filings it listed $1–10 million in assets and $50–100 million in liabilities. Sydney P. Freeberg of ''

'' said that the executive affidavit said that "Its hand was forced in part by a Texas Medicaid action cutting off payment to some of its clinics because of allegedly “excessive” and “inappropriate” orthodontic care." In June 2012 the

Texas Attorney General The Texas attorney general is the chief legal officer
of the

filed a lawsuit against All Smiles. The two lawsuits from the Attorney General argue that Malouf and his company committed additional fraud, patient recruiting, and overbilling and that the practices "cost the State of Texas many millions of dollars." The state of Texas Medicaid program had put All Smiles on a payment hold due to what Stephanie Goodman, a spokesperson of the

Texas Health and Human Services Commission The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is an agency within the Texas Health and Human Services System. In September 2016, Texas began transforming how it delivers health and human services to qualified Texans, with a goal of makin ...

, said was "credible evidence of fraud." Michael Lozich, the chief compliance officer, said that state inspectors had taken exception to 63 of the 86 reviewed orthodontic cases and that the company will challenge the state's claims. In July 2012 Lozich said that the company is negotiating a final settlement with the state. By the end of July 2012 it closed its entire 13 office orthodontic operations, and it began refusing to see

Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and per ...

patients for orthodontic treatment, dismissing 12,000 patients in the Dallas-Fort Worth area; it continued to see patients for general dentistry. The company laid off seven orthodontists. As the orthodontic operation was shut down, the company saw some patients who required emergency treatment. As of July 2012 several lawyers, including

Jim Moriarty James Moriarty (born 20 June 1953) is a New Zealand actor and theatre director, who began acting professionally in 1967. He came to national attention and is probably best known for his role as the school teacher Riki Winiata in the 1970s soap ...

, are suing Malouf under the

False Claims Act The False Claims Act (FCA), also called the "Lincoln Law", is an American federal law that imposes liability on persons and companies (typically federal contractors) who defraud governmental programs. It is the federal government's primary litigat ...

. In August 2013 South Texas Dental bought the company and all All Smiles locations were rebranded as South Texas Dental locations.Hethcock, Bill.
All Smiles acquired by South Texas Dental
" '' Dallas Business Journal''. August 19, 2013. Retrieved on September 7, 2013.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

All Smiles Dental Centers
(Archive) *

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. *
A Dental Clinic Agrees To Pay To Resolve Medicaid Allegations By State and Federal Officials
" (." (
Print versionArchive
Attorney General of Texas. March 21, 2012. Dental companies of the United States Companies based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Dallas County, Texas Health care companies established in 2002 2002 establishments in Texas Health care companies based in Texas 2013 mergers and acquisitions

History

Orthodontic operations and fraud accusations

See also

References

Further reading

External links