Former Employee speaks out against ‘Kool Smiles’ practices

A former office manager of a Kool Smiles Dentistry is sharing her experience of what she saw that lead to her filing a lawsuit that resulted in a settlement worth millions of dollars. In Amarillo Texas, Robin Fitzgerald an employee at Kool Smiles from 2008 to 2010, describes her experience in the workplace as frustrating and filled with resistance. Fitzgerald said the dentists would feel ‘pressure’ from corporate on having to meet a week quota on certain procedures on their patients. Whether it was adding unnecessary crowns or performing extractions. She says in over 20 years of working in Medicine she’s never seen a practice take advantage of their patients like this.

“This is really not for me,” said Fitzgerald. “The business plan is just something that was not a positive experience for me-just not using good practices when you’re [dentists] caring for patients because today, the case is unveiled and the same kind of stuff is still going on.”

Fitgerald says she feels heartbroken after hearing the news of two children from Yuma County dying after a local visit at Kool Smiles on 24th Street and Ave B. in Yuma.

In the last decade, Fitzgerald and other plaintiffs worked together and remained silent during the process of their lawsuit against Kool Smiles and Benevis Dental Management hoping it would make a difference when it comes to parents taking their child to the dentist.

In our interview, she ended with a few words of advice to parents to always be with their child during a visit to the dentist, and to never be afraid of getting a second opinion. The 23.9 million settlement against Benevis Dental Management and Kool Smiles will resolve allegations that they knowingly submitted false claims for payment to state Medicaid programs for medically unnecessary dental services performed on children insured by Medicaid. Kool Smiles says the accusations in the lawsuit are false.

Watch the full report tonight at 5/6/10 p.m. (MST)