Bloomberg: Dental Abuse Seen Driven by Private Equity Investments

Attached is a piece that ran on bloomberg.com last week on corporate dental practices in other states. The entire story is included below or can be found here.

Dental Abuse Seen Driven by Private Equity Investments
Bloomberg News - May 16, 2012

Isaac Gagnon stepped off the school bus sobbing last October and opened his mouth to show his mother where it hurt.

She saw steel crowns on two of the 4-year-old’s back teeth. A dentist’s statement in his backpack showed he had received two pulpotomies, or baby root canals, along with the crowns and 10 X-rays -- all while he was at school. Isaac, who suffers from seizures from a brain injury in infancy, didn’t need the work, according to his mother, Stacey Gagnon.

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DrBicuspid.com runs story on Dwyer's Comments

WSDA President Dr. Rod Wentworth was interviewed in a story that was published today on DrBicuspid.com. In the piece, Dr. Wentworth dicusses WDS CEO James Dwyer's comments about dentists only working 3.5 to 4 days a week. The entire story is posted below or can be read at DrBicuspid.com.

Dentists up in arms over WDS CEO comments
By Donna Domino, Features Editor

May 17, 2012 -- Washington Dental Service's (WDS) CEO James Dwyer has offered a qualified apology for saying that dentists should work more to make up for deep reimbursement cuts the company made last year to some 4,000 dentists in the plan's network.

Dwyer, who earns $1.2 million a year, made the controversial comments during an interview with television station King 5, where he suggested that dentists could make up lost revenue by working harder.

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King 5 Posts Follow Up Article with Raw Footage of Dwyer's Interview

The text of the story is included below. Click here to go the King 5 page.

The CEO of the state’s largest dental insurer offered an apology to the more than 4,000 dentists in his dental plan’s network.

“I can certainly understand my comments have upset some member dentists,” said James Dwyer in a post on Washington Dental Service’s Facebook page.

The apology was posted the day after a KING 5 Investigators report about rising executive salaries at Washington Dental Service in the face of deep cutbacks that affect nearly every dentist in the state. Washington Dental Services cut the reimbursement fees it pays to dentists by 15 percent last year for all procedures.

Dwyer, who earns $1.2 million a year, suggested that dentists could make up revenue by working harder. “Number one, they could start working five days a week,” said the CEO.

The comment touched off an angry reaction from dentists on blogs, Facebook posts, and in emails to KING 5 News.

It’s a “slap to the face of a recent

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Follow Up to King 5's News Story on WDS

Via WDS's Facebook page, CEO Jim Dwyer apologized to WDS member dentists stating that his remarks in King 5's investigative news story were taken out of context. His apology is below.

Message from Jim Dwyer, CEO:
You may have seen the KING TV news report on May 10, 2012 about Washington Dental Service. I can certainly understand that my comments may have upset some member dentists. Please know that the clips of me were taken from a highly edited interview. Working more hours is one of many strategies dentists are employing to cope with a changing market place and the depressed economy.
I respect and value our member dentists, and I know they are dedicated to providing quality care for their patients. I apologize for the context of the statement.

On behalf of its member dentists, WSDA posted the following comment on King 5's page referencing this story:

Mr. Dwyer’s comments that dentists should “start working five days a week” to make up for the reduction in reimbursement were outrageous and  disrespectful, displaying ignorance

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