In November 2012, the Law Center’s request was denied on the basis that producing documents that show the amount MCOs pay to dental subcontractors would violate trade secrets regulations. In December 2012, we filed an appeal with the Office of Open Records to review this denial.

The Law Center argued that denial of our original request on the basis that publicizing payment rates would hamper competition and expose trade secrets is null as four of the five MCOs subcontract to the same subcontractor, DentaQuest, LLC. DentaQuest is responsible for contracting with providers of dental services for more than 450,000 of the 500,000 individuals enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program.

The MCOs filed two opposing briefs and a number of depositions which outlined their argument that rates are protected and confidential information under the contracts they maintain with dental subcontractors.