President's Message - Vol 92.3
The Virginia Board of Dentistry, at its last meeting, passed a notice of intention to change the regulations of Virginia. This request will require an open book test for all licensees every three years on the statutes and regulations governing dentistry! The vote was unanimous without any discussion by the Board members. From a licensee’s point of view there is no rationale or justification for their vote. I believe that we, as dental professionals, hold ourselves to a higher standard than the average individual. Continuous edu- cation is the hallmark of our profession. There are a small percentage of individu- als in our profession who do not adhere to this principle; however, trying to catch the 3-5% of the violators while punishing 95-97% of all licensees is not right. This reasoning is analogous to requiring every driver to take a new driving test every 3 years on all the laws governing driving.
While there is constant change in the regulations governing dentistry, igno- rance of the laws by a few is not a reason to punish those who do keep up to date. Improving compliance with the rules lies in the communications from the Board of Dentistry; therefore, I challenge them to improve their communication with their licensees. The Board of Dentistry currently acquires the e-mail address of each licensee at renewal. Why can’t they communicate to each dentist regarding any changes in the regulations through e-mail?
Why in the 21st century does the Board only communicate to interested third parties about changes? Why is there no hotline to help licensees with their questions? This type of dialogue should be improved when the Board of Dentistry knows that there is a problem. The VDA is happy to help the Board of Dentistry communicate with our members. However, we do not represent all of the dentists in the state of Virginia. Previously the Board of Dentistry published a printed quarterly newsletter with up-to-date guidelines, policy decisions and infractions that have occurred to licensees and mailed it to all the licensees and interested parties. This type of communication was extremely helpful in understanding the type of infractions and the sanctions that were being imposed by the Board of Dentistry. I know that the newsletter, statutes and regulations are on the website. However, as a licensee who pays a fee to a governing Board, we are entitled to receive correspondence from that Board. The quarterly printed newsletters were discontinued several years back due to budgetary concerns. We encourage the Board of Dentistry to bring back this type of interaction by electronic means to all dentists and hygienists in Virginia. I personally believe this can be accomplished electronically by sending notices, Board actions, infractions that occurred, NORA’s (Notice of Regulatory Action) and any other pertinent communication to all of its licensees. This type of commu- nication will help each licensee to better understand the statutes and the rules and regulations governing Virginia’s dentists and hygienists. Furthermore, the Board of Dentistry will receive more communica- tions from the licensees. At our last Board of Directors meeting, we discussed the actions taken by the Board of Dentistry’s for the NORA and our Board voted unanimously to oppose this intent for regulatory change. I hope you will take the time to let your Board of Dentistry members know your opinion on this very important issue.
Our Board also approved a petition for rule-making to the Board of Dentistry to have the Board endorse the ADA Principles of Ethics and the Code of Professional Conduct. Currently, the Board of Dentistry already endorses the ADA’s sedation guidelines and the ADA’s CDT codes. Having the Principles of Ethics in our regulation will also help the Board deal with unethical behavior and fee-splitting by licensed Dentists. If the Board of Dentistry can endorse the sedation guidelines and the ADA’s CDT codes, then they should be able to endorse the ADA’s principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct. Currently, there are nine other states that endorse these principles of ethics in their regulations. Again, I encourage you to call the Board members to voice your opinion. The May 8th hearing at the Board of Dentistry on access-to-care was quite interesting. Dr. Mark Crabtree and I presented to the Board the concept of the CDHC program. The CDHC topic dominated the discussions during the question and answer period. While the main discussion on improving access to care is multifaceted, we believe that the CDHC program offers more help and ability to improve access to care than any other suggestions offered. The bottom line is to find the most economically feasible model to help improve access to care in our Commonwealth.
The Pew and Kellogg foundations have greatly increased their efforts to introduce mid-level providers into different states. According to the ADA, this past year alone, more than 18 states had to deal with this issue. The ADA estimates these foundations have spent between 70-80 MILLION dollars over the last five years promoting mid-level providers!! Wouldn’t that money had been better spent on direct patient care or by helping to address the access to care issue through our CDHC programs?
The PR campaign, a three-year project is in the final year. This campaign is essential to educate the public on oral health needs and to promote VDA dentists. Many entities are trying to replace us as the leaders in oral health. This campaign is critical in keeping us, the VDA, as the “go to” authority on oral health. Our public relations efforts continue to get great media exposure for the VDA. Successful “Where’s the Chair” events were recently held in Roanoke and Charlottesville and both received extensive media coverage. Campaigns such as “Where’s the Chair” and the Long Term Healthcare task force help to establish the VDA as the oral health authority in Virginia and bring visibility to our members.
When the advertising campaign shifted to internet advertising to lower the cost, hits to the website increased. The task force has decided to lower the cost to our members by continuing with this new concept of internet-based advertising because television commercials are just too expensive and are beyond our budget. Before the advertising and public relations campaign started, the monthly hits on the “Find a Dentist” page of the VDA website were 202. Since the launch of the campaign in May 2013, the average daily hits to the “Find a Dentist” page have increased to 198 hits per day, which is a monthly average of 5,940! Results from the online advertising campaign continue to improve and provide more bang for the buck. Sophisticated tracking and constant monitoring of the advertising spent have resulted in better results month over month.
Members are encouraged to see the results of the campaign for themselves. Login to the website today to see your search statistics – this is the number of times your name has appeared in a search result on the “Find a Dentist” page on the site since April 2014 when the functionality was launched. (I just looked my results up today at the time of submission to the Journal; my statistic is 397!). In 2015, the advertising campaign will un- veil 12 new videos. These videos will be used to educate the public on important oral health issues. Four videos feature animation while eight videos feature VDA Member Dentists discussing topics such as oral cancer and orthodontic braces. The intention of the campaign is to flood the internet with these videos bringing more focus, education to the public and visibility to the VDA website.
The Student Debt task force discovered that the ADA is about to roll out a refinance program this summer for students and recent graduates. This program will provide lower interest rates to help students refinance their debt. It will be administered through the ADA. What an incredible benefit for our new dentists! Stay tuned for more details.
The Board of Directors referred a motion to the Council on Government Affairs to research state legislation to provide funds for loan repayment forgiveness. The idea is to help dentists forgive a portion or all of their loans provided they move into rural Virginia areas and agree to practice for a period of time. While there is some money from the Virginia Health Care Foundation and the Virginia Department of Health, the amount of money these organizations have given is a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed state wide to improve access to care. This is another solution that will help with access to care.
As I mentioned in my last article, the VDA is considering endorsing a company to help members have a trustworthy, reliable, helpful, friendly face in transac- tions that would be fair to both the buyer and the seller of dental practices. This company will offer many services so the buyer or seller can select from a menu to help dentists address their business need. This company will help our members succeed with practice issues and buy sell agreements. The Board will be discussing this company at our June meeting. Stay tuned for more details.
This is my last Journal article and this year has flown by quickly. It has been a special privilege and honor for me to serve as your President. I have learned a great deal from our members as I have trav- elled across the state over the last two years. My main goal as your President is to leave our association in better shape for our members. Many issues are taking the forefront in dentistry. As I wind down my Presidency, we need everyone’s help to solve the problems facing our profession and to remain relevant in the future. Again, thank you for the opportunity to as your President.
