Oregon Dentist and Chiropractic Boards Ban Groupon

If you’re living in Oregon and are looking for discounted crowns or a backiotomy, Groupon isn’t your place.

Both the Oregon Board of Dentistry and the Board of Chiropractic Examiners have banned the use of Groupons. The reason for the ban is because both boards feel that Groupon violates their no commissions / no fee-splitting policies.

For some it sounds like more of a perception thing and less about fee splitting, as they don’t want their respectable practice lumped in with the other common-folk businesses that utilize Groupons. Arn Strasser DC appeared before the Oregon Board of Chiropractic Examiners and made the following statement:

“The question is, what do schemes such as Groupon, where we would join restaurants, nail parlors and tanning salons, along with medical providers such as dentists and cosmetic surgeons, do to our credibility and how the public perceives us? In my opinion, offering discounted services in a fee splitting arrangement with companies such as Groupon undermines our credibility…”

Will the decisions from the Oregon boards be the first domino to fall in a widespread ban of Groupon? Eh, probably not. But, it does appear that the be will at least be creeping into California for chiropractors there, as Robert Puleo, executive officer of the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners stated in an interview, “I am sure if it’s happening in Oregon, it’ll be coming to California, too.”

According to BusinessWeek, Groupon hasn’t been made aware of the Oregon boards’ concerns. A spokesperson for Groupon said, “we routinely work with regulators to address questions or concerns and are happy to do so here, too, if they care to reach out“.

The lead image is supposedly the Groupon that got all the ruckus started, according to BusinessInsider.