How we analyzed the data
UNLV provided the Review-Journal with data in 2019 that showed very few surgical tooth extractions performed by the dental school, but sources told reporter Arthur Kane the information wasn’t accurate.
Related: Billing irregularities plague UNLV dental school
The Review-Journal requested actual billing data by patient number, procedure code, provider and cost to patient — and his or her insurance. Reporters were able then to determine how many surgical and simple extractions the school billed for each dentist.
The analysis showed a substantially higher number of surgical extractions with some dentists billing for three times more surgical than simple extractions. In 2018, Medicaid paid for 16,302 surgical and 18,810 simple extractions in Clark County, data shows.