Arlington dentist’s office participated in kickback scheme, Texas AG says
An Arlington dentist’s office was part of a scheme to defraud Medicaid, the Texas Attorney General said Monday.
Attorney General Ken Paxton accused multiple dental providers, including Stadium Dental in Arlington, of participating in the scheme. The defendants, including Stadium Dental, allegedly performed “unnecessary and, in some cases, high-risk dental procedures” on Medicaid patients, according to a statement from Paxton’s office. The providers would then bill Medicaid for the procedures, Paxton’s office said..
“It is malicious and unacceptable that these providers were performing dangerous, medically unnecessary procedures on patients in order to scam our Medicaid system,” Paxton said in a statement. “Our Medicaid resources are in place to serve Texans in need, and my office will continue to fight fraud and abuse within that system.”
Attorneys for the defendants either did not respond or declined to comment for this article.
The case was originally filed in 2024, but was initially sealed. The case has now been unsealed.
Paxton accused seven dental providers of paying referral fees to a group of marketing companies, who in turn paid Medicaid enrollees in gift cards or cash payments for becoming patients at the dentists’ offices. Paxton’s office said the scheme started in 2014, and resulted in “tens of thousands of fraudulent Medicaid claims.”
The case began when dentist Rahul Patel brought a whistleblower case after he purchased one of the dentist’s offices in question. After purchasing Galloway Dental in Mesquite in 2023, Patel learned that the practice had an annual marketing budget of $200,000, about double what Patel expected, according to the lawsuit. Patel also learned that the marketing company Dental Axis offered gift cards ranging from $50 to $80 to families, including Medicaid patients, that began treatment at Galloway Dental, the suit said. Patel learned that Galloway Dental then paid Dental Axis a per-patient fee for each new patient, according to the attorney general’s office.
According to the suit, Patel’s “years of experience as a dentist enrolled as a Texas Medicaid provider alerted him that Galloway Dental was involved in what he suspected to be an illegal kickback scheme. (Patel) understood that paying Medicaid beneficiaries for treatment, including offering gift cards, constituted an unlawful kickback.” Patel then demanded rescission of his purchase of Galloway Dental, the suit said.
Stadium Dental was part of a network of dentist’s offices that all participated in the scheme, Paxton’s office said. Paxton also accused Ellis Dental, a dissolved company that previously operated in the Stockyards, of participating in the scheme.
