The Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has reached a settlement with a Brighton dental office and dentist to resolve allegations that they refused to accept MassHealth members seeking dental treatment.
The settlement with Amity Dental Center, located in Brighton, and Christina Hsu, DDS, resolves allegations that they turned away, refused to see, and/or did not accept MassHealth members seeking treatment when they had not notified MassHealth that the practice had reached its maximum capacity of MassHealth members as required by state regulations.
The office began an investigation after receiving a complaint from a MassHealth member in March 2020 who attempted to seek treatment from Amity and Hsu but was informed that Amity refused to take any more MassHealth patients.
The investigation found that the dental practice had been refusing to accept new MassHealth patients between January 1, 2020, and September 30, 2020.
Under the terms of the settlement, Amity and Hsu have agreed to pay $7,500 and complete community service of 35 hours of free dental services through the Dental Lifeline Network, an organization that serves low-income, elderly, medically fragile, and disabled patients.
Amity and Hsu also have agreed to distribute 250 dental hygiene kits and provide free dental education to one or more local schools.
Under MassHealth regulations, if a dental provider has not notified MassHealth of caseload capacity, the provider must continue to accept all MassHealth patients. Failure to do so is a breach of the MassHealth provider contract and allegedly constitutes an unfair and deceptive practice.
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