Health Center steps in to help dental patients

Date: 1/18/2011

Jan. 19, 2011

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

CHICOPEE — Patients of the recently closed Allcare Dental will have access to their dental records and to dental services thanks to an arrangement between the Attorney General's office, the state Board of Dental Registration and Holyoke Health Center (HHC) Inc.

HHC Executive Director Jay Breines and Chicopee Mayor Michael Bissonnette announced on Jan. 14 that all of the dental records for the Allcare office on Memorial Drive have been transferred to the Chicopee Health Center on Front Street operated by HHC.

"It was in everyone's interest to meet the needs of the dental patients as quickly as possible and that's what this agreement does," Breines said.

Breines added the situation is "unusual."

"Thank God, it doesn't happen often," he added.

Allcare, which operated dental practices in 13 states, closed its doors on Dec. 31 and is believed to be planning to declare bankruptcy.

According to Breines, there are about 1,000 active patients and the records of 2,000 to 3,000 past patients. The patients will have access to their records and will be able to bring them to a new dental practice or use the dental services offered by HHC.

Although most of the patients were from Chicopee, there were also residents from Springfield and West Springfield as well.

The dental staff at HHC includes 15 dentists and a number of technicians and Breines said HHC is large enough to handle the influx of new patients. HHC also hired one of the dentists who worked at Allcare.

Bissonnette called the surprise closing "a horrible situation." His office has received calls from angry residents who were Allcare customers.

"These people were trapped in a corporate financial situation that made them victims," Bissonnette said.

Breines noted that some patients had prepaid for dental procedures or were in the process of completing treatments when Allcare closed its doors. It is unclear at this point what Allcare will do to compensate these patients.

Any Allcare patient who wishes to obtain his or her dental record can call HHC at 420-2222. If a patient has an immediate dental need, Breines said they could receive care at HHC.

Breines said patients who were paying Allcare for their service — the company didn't accept Medicare patients — may be able to qualify for assistance through HHC.

Bissonnette and Breines both acknowledged and thanked state officials for the roles they played to make the transfer of records possible.

"You can't realize how hard this was to put this together in two weeks," Bissonnette said.

"The bottom line: patients will continue to get care," Breines said.