October 24, 2012
Lawsuit: Aspen Dental, with 18 offices in Michigan, misleads patients with 'unfair and deceptive trade practices'
A Michigan woman is among 11 patients suing Aspen Dental Management Inc., arguing the New York-based company illegally operates dental clinics throughout the country and pressures patients into expensive procedures.
Aspen has 18 locations in Michigan, including Bay City, Flint, Holland, Jackson, Lansing, Midland, Muskegon, Saginaw and three Grand Rapids-area offices. The Bay City office is named in the lawsuit.
The suit alleges Aspen, which is owned by a private equity firm, is run by non-dentists, thereby engaging in unlawful corporate practice of dentistry. Attorney Brian Cohen said Aspen clinics are tied to licensed dentists, but that those dentists don’t actively practice at the clinic.
“Because of how the company’s model is set up, it’s profit driven and places profits over quality of patient care and it encourages and incentivizes the folks who work in local offices … to get patients to commit to expensive patient treatment plans,” Cohen said.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York on Thursday, seeks class action status for other Aspen patients. It requests a judgment declaring the offices are not lawfully licensed and an undetermined amount of monetary damages.
Aspen disputes the claims. The company provides business support services to dentists who own and operate more than 350 practices in 22 states, according to its website.
“The dentists and staff at Aspen Dental offices around the U.S. provide access to high quality, affordable dental care for millions of patients. Their singular commitment is to do what’s right for their patients,” the company said in a statement.
“ADMI is proud that the business support services that it provides allow dentists to spend more time focusing on patient care, rather than accounting, IT, and the other administrative responsibilities associated with running a dental practice.”
Patricia Huddleston, 48, of Rhodes, is one of 11 plaintiffs from 11 states.
Huddleston needed a filling replaced in August 2010, so she visited Aspen’s Bay City office after seeing advertisements offering free exams and X-rays.
An office manager persuaded Huddleston to commit to an extensive treatment plan after a brief dental exam, according to the lawsuit. Her insurance would not cover the entire $6,538 cost, so Huddleston agreed to take out a health-care credit card.
The card was issued by CareCredit, owned by GE Capital Markets, part of General Electric Co.
In 2010, then-New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo criticized CareCredit for offering kickbacks to providers to steer patients to use the cards.
“Doctors are supposed to represent patients, not credit card companies, no matter what kind of kickbacks they are offered,” he said in an August 2010 statement.
Phone calls to Huddleston’s home, in Gladwin County about 35 miles north of Bay City, were not answered Friday afternoon.
Eleven complaints have been filed with the Michigan Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division against Aspen Dental since 2009. The complaints are all related to billing or failure to refund, said Joy Yearout, spokeswoman for the office.
Nine of the complaints have been closed and eight of those received refunds. Two complaints remain open.
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