A dentist with multiple offices in Massachusetts agreed to pay $135,000 to settle claims that he was running an illegal kickback program for patients, leading to improper payments from Medicaid, state Attorney General Maura Healey announced Feb. 19.
Nathaniel Chan, DMD, and his practice, Advanced Dental Arts, settled claims over an illegal program that allegedly occurred from October 2014 through December 2017. The program used gift cards or raffles to incentivize patients to make more appointments and refer others, basing rewards on the number of appointments made. The program was illegal because it could encourage scheduling medically unnecessary appointments paid for by MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program.
"This dentist orchestrated an illegal kickback scheme to boost his own profits at the expense of our MassHealth program, which provides healthcare to some of our most vulnerable populations," Ms. Healey said. "Dental providers need to know that we will enforce state law to protect these resources."