Attorney General Ken Paxton Sues Dental Network for Defrauding Texas Medicaid Through an Illegal Kickback Scheme
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Healthcare Program Enforcement Division has sued two Texas dentists along with a network of related dental clinics and management entities (“Defendants”) for orchestrating a scheme to defraud Texas Medicaid by artificially increasing Medicaid patient volume through unlawful inducements.
Investigations have revealed that the dentists paid outside “marketers” on a per-patient basis to bring Medicaid patients, including very young children, into their clinics. These payments were disguised as “surveys” and “marketing,” but no real marketing services or survey results were ever provided. Instead, the marketers allegedly recruited patients by offering cash, gift cards, Zelle payments, and other things of value to Medicaid beneficiaries and their families in exchange for showing up at the clinics.
The defendants orchestrated this scheme to submit thousands of Medicaid claims for services that were tainted by these illegal kickbacks. Attorney General Paxton’s lawsuit points to written marketing agreements, invoices, patient spreadsheets, and annotated electronic payments to marketers as evidence of the scheme.
“My office will not tolerate dental providers engaging in illegal activity to enrich themselves at the expense of taxpayers,” said Attorney General Paxton. “This lawsuit sends a clear message: if you abuse the Medicaid program, violate the law, and profit off of illegal kickbacks, you will be held accountable.”
Attorney General Paxton has brought this lawsuit under the Texas Health Care Program Fraud Prevention Act, which prohibits false claims, concealment of material information, and unlawful kickback arrangements involving Medicaid-funded services. The Office of the Attorney General is seeking all available civil remedies to ensure full restitution to taxpayers and the State of Texas.
This was filed in addition to a similar lawsuit brought by Attorney General Paxton against another group of Texas dentists and related entities that were running a comparable scheme to defraud Texas Medicaid.
To read the lawsuit, click here.
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