A pediatric dental group with practices in New Jersey, Vermont, and New York, including an office in Valley Stream called Pediatric Dentistry of Valley Stream, has agreed to pay more than $750,000 to settle allegations that his pediatric dentistry performed unneeded roots canals on children, according to state and federal authorities earlier this month.
Dr. Barry L. Jacobson and his company HQRC Management Services LLC admitted to billing Medicaid for the unnecessary procedure known as therapeutic pulpotomies between 2011 and 2018, which were not supported by the medical records maintained at the respective dental practices, New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a joint statement with the office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Philip Sellinger.
“Dr. Jacobson and HQRC allegedly performed unnecessary and invasive dental procedures on children to line their own pockets,” James said in a statement. “My office will not tolerate any instance of medically unnecessary procedures performed on vulnerable Medicaid beneficiaries.”
The defendants also admitted to making “billing errors” on claims made out to New York and New Jersey Medicaid contractors, which led to inaccurate information on service claims performed at three of its dental practices.
This joint investigative effort between the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, is collecting $313,783 for the federal shares of New York and New Jersey Medicaid damages as part of the agreement. A portion of the settlement will also go to the whistle blower who filed a lawsuit under the federal and New York False Claims Act, prosecutors said.
Luc Herbowy, a spokesperson for HQRC, took issue with the way prosecutors portrayed the settlement.
"We care deeply for all our patients and strongly disagree with the government's characterization of our conduct," said Herbowy. "All the treatments we provided patients addressed real medical needs and we stand behind those treatment decisions today. Our settlement pertains to record keeping and billing issues that occurred at a few of our offices several years ago.
"Since that time, we have taken steps to substantially improve our administrative processes," he added. "As always, we remain committed to providing the highest quality pediatric care to the communities we serve."
