Additional Information for North Country Pediatric Dentistry PLLC

The following describes a government action that has been resolved by either a settlement or a decision by a court or administrative agency. If the matter is being appealed, it will be noted below.

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced a $753,457 agreement with pediatric dentist Dr. Barry L. Jacobson and his company HQRC Management Services LLC (HQRC), along with 13 other affiliated pediatric dentistry locations. The dentistry group allegedly performed and billed for medically unnecessary pediatric root canals. This settlement is the result of a joint investigation between the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, which is collecting $313,783 for the United States’ shares of New York and New Jersey Medicaid damages as part of this agreement.

The settlement resolves allegations that some HQRC dentists performed medically unnecessary pulpotomies — often referred to as “baby root canals” — on pediatric patients. A pulpotomy is a procedure to restore infected primary teeth in children whereby the dentist removes infected and damaged pulp from the upper part of the tooth and covers the remaining part of the child’s tooth with a filling or a crown. Dr. Jacobson and HQRC admit MFCU’s investigative findings that in some instances between 2011 and 2018, affiliated dentists performed and billed Medicaid for therapeutic pulpotomies not supported by the medical records maintained at the respective dental practices. The defendants also admit that in some instances between 2011 and 2014, HQRC made billing errors on claims submitted to New York and New Jersey Medicaid contractors that resulted in inaccurate servicing provider information on claims for services performed at three of its locations.

Dr. Jacobson and HQRC, now doing business as PDS Management Solutions, operate pediatric dental practices in New York, New Jersey, and Vermont. The majority of these practices are in New York, and the following are parties to the agreement: Pediatric Dentistry of Paterson, Pediatric Dentistry of Teaneck, Pediatric Dentistry of Wyckoff, Pediatric Dentistry of Flushing, Pediatric Dentistry of the Bronx, Pediatric Dentistry of Valley Stream, Pediatric Dentistry of Avenue U, Pediatric Dentistry of Boro Park, Pediatric Dentistry of Monsey, Pediatric Dentistry of Kingston, Pediatric Dentistry of Albany, Pediatric Dentistry of Malone, and North Country Pediatric Dentistry. 

The case against Dr. Jacobson, HQRC, and the affiliated dental practices was initiated by a former employee, who will receive a portion of the settlement. The whistleblower lawsuit was filed under the qui tam provisions of the federal and New York False Claims Acts, which allow people to file civil actions on behalf of the government and share in any recovery.