Aspen Dental Management, Inc. is a dental support organization, a dental practice management corporation that provides business support and administrative services in the US. Its headquarters is in DeWitt, New York. Concerns about Aspen Dental's alleged targeting of older, low-income earners with unnecessary and costly services by offering them a finance program without fully disclosing the terms has been investigated by the U. S. Senate committee on finance, Pennsylvania Attorney General's office, Frontline, in partnership with the Center for Public Integrity and The New York Times. In 2015, American Securities led Aspen's recapitalization in partnership with Ares Management, Leonard Green & Partners and the existing management team.
History
Aspen Dental Management, Inc., the Dental Support Organization that supports the Aspen Dental brand, was founded in 1998 by Robert Fontana, who is chief executive. Fontana completed business school in 1991 and worked at Upstate Dental in Syracuse, New York. ADMI's predecessor was founded in 1981 and supported dental practices in Upstate New York. It was a founding member of the Association of Dental Support Organizations. After predecessor company Upstate Dental merged with East Coast Dental in December 1997, the resulting firm was launched in 1998 as Aspen Dental Management, Inc. There were more than 50 Aspen Dental offices within five years of ADMI's establishment. By April 2007, there were 106 branded practices in Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. The company was initially headquartered in Salina, New York but moved to a new headquarters near Syracuse in DeWitt in 2006. The new headquarters includes a training center to cater to Aspen Dental employees and other firms' training events. In 2010, Leonard Green & Partners purchased Aspen Dental from Ares Management for about $500 million. By August 2010, private equity firms were bidding on Aspen Dental and Kool Smiles, the two largest national chains of dental offices in the United States. Financial consultant Tom Climo cautioned that private equity firms boost profits by pressuring dentists to work longer, which could lead to a deterioration in service. By 2015, Aspen Dental offered services to about 550 franchised dental facilities.
After complaints regarding its discount services and finance programs emerged in October 2010, Aspen entered into an assurance of voluntary compliance with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office without admitting wrongdoing. It agreed to pay $125,000 to reimburse customers and $50,000 for consumer protection probes. Complaints involved services provided before May 28, 2009. In June 2012, a PBS series entitled Dollars and Dentists produced by Frontline in partnership with the Center for Public Integrity described Aspen Dental's business model as one which makes dental work immediately accessible to low-income patients by providing interest-free credit. The investigation revealed patients were overcharged or given unnecessary treatments. In October 2012, a class-action lawsuit accused the company of illegally owning dental practices and deceiving patients. The lawsuit accused Aspen of violating of laws in 22 states which allow only dentists to own a dental practice. The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York dismissed the case in 2015. In their 2013 report entitled "Joint Staff Report on the Corporate Practice of Dentistry in the Medicaid Program," Senators Chuck Grassley and Max Baucus investigated corporate dentistry with a focus on Aspen Dental, Church Street Health Management, Small Smiles, NCDR, LLC, Kool Smiles, ReachOut and Heartland Dental Care. In 2014, the company paid $1 million to settle allegations of deceptive marketing and billing in Massachusetts. In June 2015, Aspen settled charges in New York that it interfered with dentists' decision-making in clinics it managed. The company paid $450,000 and agreed to comply with new business practices prohibiting such interference. In 2015, as Moody's was placing Aspen's ratings under review, an affiliate of private equity firm American Securities, led the recapitalization of Aspen Dental Management Inc. in partnership with Ares Management, Leonard Green & Partners and the existing management team.
Client-base
Aspen's services are aimed at individuals who do not have an established dental routine or regular dental provider. In 2012, Fontana described a typical Aspen Dental patient as middle-aged and possibly struggling to afford their day-to-day expenses, or someone who sees dental work as "discretionary" and therefore may have an emergency dental issue arise. According to Fontana, Aspen's locations and marketing are aimed at providing services to those individuals.
