Process
Status Items Highlights Done See section below Claims None Questions None Output None
Highlights
id917676698
In the last decade, private equity firms have been quietly taking control of dental care from behind the scenes, largely through secondary business organizations that push dental practices to cut costs and, in some cases, encourage unnecessary and irreversible dental procedures.
id917676806
Private equity firms usually aim to generate large profits over a short period of time by buying a business, cutting costs through measures like layoffs, and eventually selling it to other investors or sending the business into bankruptcy.
id917677336
private equity–backed North American Dental Group was prescribing root canals to children with healthy teeth as young as three years old in order to get larger Medicaid reimbursements. (Data shows that private equity–backed dental clinics are more likely to accept Medicaid than independent ones.)