Dental Economics Publishes McGuireWoods Lawyers’ DSO Regulatory Update

December 2, 2016

Three McGuireWoods lawyers earned a three-page spread in the November edition of Dental Economics magazine for an article they wrote about new or updated state and federal regulations for dental service organizations (DSOs).

Partner Bart Walker of Charlotte and associates LauraLee Lawley and Anthony Del Rio of Charlotte and Chicago, respectively, penned “Evolving Regulation of Dental Service Organizations: Regulatory Update,” a roundup of legislative and judicial activity affecting dental practices in Georgia, Texas, Connecticut, Kansas, Virginia and Washington state.

They cite changes as varied as an unsuccessful amendment in Georgia to rules regarding statements that dental practices are allowed to make in advertising, to proposed rules in Texas that would have substantially crimped the ability of DSOs to do business there.

At the federal level, they wrote, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa has asked the Department of Justice for information about the number of current dental chain fraud investigations. His interest in the topic, paired with his position on the Senate Finance Committee overseeing federal outlays for Medicaid and other benefits, could lead to greater scrutiny of the DSO model, they noted.

DSOs contract with dental practices to handle their nonclinical business support operations, freeing up dentists to focus on patients rather than office management.