DR. MOUHAB Z. RIZKALLAH – WINS HISTORIC INJUNCTION
President, Medicaid Orthodontists of Massachusetts Association
MOMA LAWSUIT #3 (2020 – PRESENT): DAYANNE N. & MOMA Versus BAKER
In 2020, at the start of the COVID pandemic, MassHealth declared that MassHealth was re-defining standard diagnostic terms (for orthodontics).
The illegal changes forced doctors to intentionally misdiagnose children that have MassHealth. Essentially, a poor child would get a different diagnosis compared to a well-off child, even though both had the same condition. MOMA sued.
While the case has not ended, on December 14, 2020 MOMA, led by its President, Dr. Mouhab Z. Rizkallah, were awarded an injunction against MassHealth and Attorney General Maura Healey’s attempt to force doctors to misdiagnose poor children. Attorney General Maura Healey tried to persuade the court that the changes were not meant to reduce approvals, but the Judge’s decision stated: “…..the defendants were aware that the instructional changes would cause approvals to drop.” and “‘… the court is not persuaded.”
After Attorney General Maura Healey lost in court, she launched a defamatory media campaign against Dr. Mouhab Z. Rizkallah. Healey is abusing her position to chill the activities of her opponent. Dr. Rizkallah is suing Attorney General Healey for Defamation, and expects to win on that claim as well.
To date, MassHealth will not admit who instituted this illegal change, but we have discovered through the lawsuit that it was DentaQuest (which is owned by Delta Dental, and runs the billing of the MassHealth program) that did this.
See more of Dr. Mouhab Rizkallah’s advocacy at: https://masshealth-orthodontists.org/litigations/
