One of the most important types of legal matters that dental practice owners will need to handle includes drafting offer letters to associates brought in or hired to the practice. An offer letter represents a preliminary offer for an associate to join a dental practice. Although an offer letter will address...
How Payer Audits Can Lead to License Discipline and What to Do
A payer audit can create problems that extend far beyond reimbursement disputes. In some situations, findings from a dental insurance audit may be reported to a state dental board, leading to investigations that put a dentist's professional license at risk.
If a payer alleges billing irregularities, improper coding, recordkeeping...
Common Legal Mistakes DSOs Make When Acquiring Practices
Dental service organizations continue to expand, and a successful transaction can create long-term revenue opportunities. Still, acquisitions often involve legal complications that might not be obvious until after closing.
Many problems begin during the due diligence and structuring stages. A rushed review, incomplete agreements, or misunderstandings about ownership...
How Audits Lead to License Discipline (and How to Respond)
An audit can feel like a simple billing problem or a routine records request, but for a dental practice owner, it may carry much higher stakes. Insurance reviews, documentation audits, and compliance inquiries can expose issues that lead to licensing complaints – not to mention potentially put your practice itself at risk. How...
Red Flags in Dental Practice Purchase Agreements
Buying a dental practice can feel like a major step forward—you might already be thinking about new patients and long-term growth. Before you sign a purchase agreement or letter of intent, though, it’s important to look closely at the legal and financial terms tied to the transaction.
Purchase...
What Triggers a Dental Board Investigation?
Finding out you’re under investigation by your dental board is an alarming situation – and it’s not something you want to postpone dealing with. Even at an early stage, an investigation can raise concerns about your professional license, your practice, and your future in the profession of dentistry. To help you understand why...
Succession Planning for Your Dental Practice: Exit Strategies Beyond Selling
When you’ve considered what you will do when you decide to leave dental practice, you may decide that you do not want to sell your business to a third-party buyer. Fortunately, practice owners have succession-planning options beyond selling the business to a third party.
Why You Shouldn’t Always...When a Vendor Doesn’t Deliver: Legal Options for Dental Practice Owners
Dental practices rely on vendors for everything from equipment and software to marketing and billing support. When a vendor fails to meet their obligations by missing deliveries, providing faulty equipment, or failing to deliver services as promised, it can lead to a costly and stressful disruption of your practice’s regular operations.
How to Handle a Dental Partnership Deadlock: Legal Strategies for Practice Owners
Dental partnership deadlock can happen when co-owners of a dental practice can’t reach a middle ground on major business decisions, and their practice gets stuck as a result. This can occur when there’s an equal split in ownership and no built-in way to break a tie.
Deadlocks don’t always...
Avoiding Hidden Risks in Associate Buy-Outs: Legal Essentials for Practice Owners
Making an associate into a partial or full owner of your dental practice can feel like a natural step. However, associate buy-outs carry legal risks that can compromise your long-term plans and finances. Understanding the key areas where disputes come up—timing, valuation, and contractual protections—can protect your interests and keep the transition...
