Come hear the stories behind the legislative and legal battles won on your behalf by NJDA this year from the dedicated officers. This annual event is an opportunity to meet the NJDA Directors and General Counsel and to witness first hand their dedication to our members. You will never ask the question, “What is organized dentistry doing for me?” after this evening. It will provide you with the opportunity to learn how to use NJDA’s vast resources to get the most of your membership.
In addition, a special presentation to our deserving New Life Members will be featured. Life Members have been members for 30 consecutive years, or 40 years total. Tonight we honor our members who have reached this milestone in their careers, and acknowledge their contributions.

Dear friends, I hope you are coping well with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Fortunately, for most of us in Middlesex County we had to deal with extended power outages and downed trees but we have been able to bounce back. Some of our members had significant damage to their homes or vacation homes and my thoughts are with them as they move through the phases of reconstruction. Likewise, several areas in our state and surrounding territories are devastated and will need help for an extended period in the future.
The New Jersey Dental Association went into action as soon as possible after the storm trying to assess the damage its members sustained. They immediately convened a conference call of the leaders in the state and started to outline what information and resources they could provide to our members. Two or three days after the storm, I received a phone call from Dr. Messana, NJDA President, asking me how my component was fairing and what help he could provide. These actions show me that our association is very concerned about us. I wish many dentists who are not members could learn about these actions as just a small sample of what organized dentistry is about. The resulting emails and written information regarding disaster recovery resources have been very valuable in the hard hit areas of our state.
Lastly I would like to inform the membership that staff night is cancelled for May 2013. As the years have gone by, the number of attendees for staff night has declined. As with most things, the costs have gone up. The Executive Board has been concerned with providing a quality function at a cost that would not be prohibitive for most offices. Given these circumstances, the Board feels that it is in the Society’s best interest to cancel staff night for this coming year and re-evaluate the needs of the society about one year from now.
Please joins us at the Pines on January 15th for the annual visit from the NJDA officers and the induction of our life members, I hope to see you there.

11/13/12

Attendance: Dr.’s Simos, Savage, Krantz, Kahn, Vitale, Leung, Modi, Villa, Goldstein, Leizer, Kaga, Ashmen, Schambra, Weiner, Bernstein, Rosen, Stein, Mir-Madjlessi, Silverstein, and Marlene Glickman.
Acceptance of 10/9/12 Minutes-vote unanimous.
President’s Report-Constantine Simos
NJDA emailed out the “Hurricane Sandy Recovery Resource Guide.” (Editor’s note: the forms are available on our web site in the archives section under the 2012-2013 link).
Treasurer’s Report-Alyssa Bernstein
See full report below.
ADA Delegate’s Report-Richard Kahn, Daniel Krantz
The following are salient points from the last meeting:
President-elect: Charles Norman (North Carolina)
Treasurer: Ronald Lemmo (Ohio)
Speaker of the House: Glen Hall (Texas)
Dues increase of $10
Dental Anesthesiology rejected for specialty status
Change in Life Membership status from 50% dues to 75% dues
Proposal to eliminate human subjects in Board Examinations (referred for further study)
No special building fund assessment ($50 proposed and was voted down)
Proposal to eliminate First and Second Vice President positions (referred for further study)
Proposal to eliminate ADA Library (referred for further study)
Proposal to change size and makeup of the Hose of Delegates rejected
Maxine Feinberg announced her candidacy for ADA President-elect.
NJDA Trustee’s Report-Mark Vitale
Contact NJDA if anyone needs help at home or office due to destruction from “Sandy.”
Many of us have practice interruption insurance but there is an exception. You are covered only if the loss of power is at the location of your building.
NJDA Council Reports:
Give Kids A Smile-Cavan Brunsden
Give Kids A Smile is on Friday, February 1, 2013. 84 volunteer sites are registered at this time. This day of volunteerism is one of the most successful efforts to address the access to care issue in dental care for children. New Jersey has the pre-eminent program in the USA in terms of active volunteers, numbers of children seen and total dental care delivered. Please consider volunteering yourself, your office, and your staff to this very worthwhile cause. Join all of us as we support the efforts of NJDA as they lead the way in providing preventive dental care services to children. For the newer dentists, this is one of the best ways to establish your practice and your name in your community and to grow your practice. Good volunteer efforts on behalf of others demonstrates corporate social responsibility and is good for everyone. Call Maureen ‘Mo’ Barlow at NJDA 732 821-9400 and sign up now.
Dental Benefits-Jeff Chustckie, Devang Modi
See full report below.
Dental Education-Bob Ashmen
The council will no longer be involved with any CE courses, only the weekend study club.
Membership-Tara Savage, Genevieve Fernandes
An ergonomics continuing education course designed specifically for female dentists featuring a dental ergonomic expert, Bethany Valachi, PT, MS, CEAS and a master trainer, Celeste Leonard is scheduled for December 7, 2012. NJDA will be sponsoring this course using the grant money it received from the ADA for membership recruitment. This course will be offered to female dentists, both members and non-members. The title of the course is “Optimizing Health for the Woman Dental Professional: Evidence-based Strategies to Prevent Pain and Extend Your Career.” This will be a half day course followed by an exercise class with a trainer. It will be at the Renaissance Woodbridge Hotel, Iselin, NJ The fee for this course is $100 for NJDA members and $140 for non-members. It starts with breakfast from 8-9 with a lecture from 9-12, then lunch from 12-12:45. This event concludes with an hour of fitness session from master trainer, Celeste Leonard.
The NJDA is marketing a “15 for 12” quarter year dues program. Any eligible prospective member applying in the last quarter of 2012 will receive 15 months of membership for the price of 12.
The Board of Trustees adopted a new member recruitment incentive program- a $100 cash prize will be given to a member who acquires a non-member. The recruited member must submit an application and be a full dues paying member. The $100.00 will be paid when dues are fully paid by the new member.
The Board of Trustees has adopted the “Power of One” program. Every Trustee, Officer and Council on Membership representative must recruit a non-member by the end of the year. The recruited member must submit an application.
An evening event featuring Art Meisel and Jim Schulz as speakers will be scheduled with IDANA members who are not NJDA members.
Peer Review-Sandy Goldstein
There was one case assigned for peer review in the past month. The peer review training seminar was cancelled due to the hurricane.
Relief-Ethan Glickman (Editor’s note: not part of the 11/13/12 minutes, but the 12/5/12 meeting notes were appropriate here):
During a telephone conference call on Wednesday evening, December 5,
2012, the Council on Relief approved the attached two documents:
(1) Hurricane Sandy Grant Program Application Form
(2) Rules for NJDA Hurricane Sandy Grant Program.
To date, the NJDA has received donations from four constituent dental societies totaling $47,500. The Council intends to match that amount from funds that it currently administers in the Indenture of Trust, for a grand total of $95,000.
Depending on funds available, a grant amount for any applicant shall not exceed the lesser of:
(1) 25% of the loss suffered by damage to a dental office or its content, or
(2) a maximum of $20,000.
At 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 16, 2013, the Council will meet at the office of the Association to review applications for grants.
Committee Reports:
Corporate Sponsorship-Ira Rosen
Encourage everyone to visit the sponsors. Ideas were discussed to increase traffic to the vendors including raffling a prize at the end of every meeting. Attendees must visit every sponsor and get their card stamped.
Mentor-Nima Mir-Madjlessi
The next OSHA course will be on 11/15/12 at St. Peters Medical Center. 100 people are registered.
Continuing Education-Mark Schambra
Mark Setter is our speaker for the April 17, 2013 full day course. His honorarium is $7000. Marty from Schein can cover half of the honorarium through his sub sponsors. MCDS would have to find other sponsors to cover the cost. Dr. Setter also works with some sponsors but there maybe a conflict of interest between his sponsors and Schein (ex. Kodak/ Dexis). Another conflict is that Henry Schein now offers its own practice management consulting service which is the theme of our full day course.
Budget and Finance-Ira Rosen
MCDS Budget will be voted upon at next weeks meeting. MCDS will allocate $2500/year to fund Dr. Maxine Feinberg’s campaign.
Hygiene Study Club-Alyssa Bernstein
The Central New Jersey Dental Hygiene [CNJDH] Study Club met on Wednesday September 19, 2012 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Edison. The lecture was presented by Dr. Brunsden on “Treating the Autistic Patient”. Two CEU credits were awarded to the 29 Hygienists that attend this meeting.
The next CNJDH meeting will be on Wednesday November 14, 2012 at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Edison. The speaker will be Annabelle Bacchione, RDH, NTP and she will be lecturing on depression and the link to nutrition. Two CEU credits will be awarded for this seminar. The schedule and registration form for the upcoming lecture series will be in the next newsletter.
This CNJDH study club is available to our hygienists as a Dentist-member benefit of MCDS. Please see the registration form in the newsletter to register for next year. Please contact Marlene Glickman, our Executive Secretary for MCDS, at 732-238-1255 for additional information and registration in advance for the program.
Old Business
There will be NO Staff Night in May 2013. A scientific lecture may be considered in the future as an alternative.
New Business
It was agreed that Dr. Alan Rausch can give a gold inlay/ onlay lecture at our mentor or study club meeting but not at our Tuesday membership meeting, in keeping with the established rules of our Society.
Respectfully Submitted,
Devang Modi,
Secretary

A. Special order of business: Dr. Scott Navarro and Bruce Silverman, Delta Dental: Dr. Navarro and Bruce Silverman briefed the council on Delta’s view of the potential effects on dental benefits from the Affordable Care Act’s implementation of “qualified health plans” including a pediatric oral health benefit. New Jersey’s proposed legislation to form its Health Insurance Exchange was vetoed by the Governor, but it would have allowed stand-alone dental plans to be included on the exchange. However, since covered services may not include an annual or lifetime maximum (customary in dental benefit plans) the premiums would have to be priced accordingly and may not be competitive with full-service health plans. On other topics, Delta is currently programming its computers with the new CDT codes that will take effect on January 1, 2013, and is also set to roll out the individual dental product. (Subsequent to the meeting, Delta e-mailed complete policy descriptions of the new plans.) Of interest, Delta reported that only 67% of claims are submitted electronically.
B. CRP Statistics: Staff provided the council with 2012 year to date cumulative statistics indicating a total of 76 complaints (MCDS-18) submitted to NJDA for the year. Of that number, NJDA successfully resolved 29; 22 were for data purposes, 17 are still pending and eight were not resolvable. Most of the complaints are against Aetna (14) and MetLife (16) for COB, refund requests and denial of claims.
C. MetLife COB Problems: The council reviewed redacted examples of the problems MetLife participating dentists are experiencing when MetLife is secondary coverage. Briefly, MetLife does not pay to the dentist the full patient liability, but limits its payment to the MetLife contract fee, then sends the remainder to the patient who profits from the dental visit. In one example, MetLife actually requested that the dentist return an “overpayment” that he did not receive. Staff is working with the Department of Banking and Insurance (DoBI) on these issues. MetLife’s explanation to DoBI is simply “human errors do occur”.
D. Guardian Settlement (COB): The council reviewed the letter Guardian sent to participating dentists with a check for underpayments occurring over the last six years (plus interest). This action was prompted by NJDA’s report to DoBI relating to Guardian’s failure to implement the COB rules. Staff reported that DoBI would not disclose further details of the settlement (e.g., number of dentists, average payment amount, etc.) citing confidentiality. Two council members reported receiving checks.
E. MetLife Overutilization Letter: The council reviewed, as informational, the type of letter MetLife sends to dentists when its computer profiles show a utilization pattern of certain codes that fall outside the norm; in this case, x-rays.
E. Horizon Secondary E-Claims: Dr. Vitale reported that his office has been having problems with the inability of Horizon to pay claims for secondary coverage that had been submitted electronically. Upon inquiry from NJDA, Horizon reported that it identified a “workflow issue” that has since been corrected.
F. Conference Call on Tricare (MetLife contract): The chairman reported on a conference call he and staff had with Dr. Chaffin, Chief of the TRICARE Dental Care Operations Division, concerning language in the MetLife contract that appears to limit a dentist’s right to appeal decisions related to quality or necessity. (Subsequent to the meeting, NJDA received assurances from Dr. Chaffin that a dentist may appeal, except in the case of non-covered services, despite language contained in the contract.)
G. ADA Dental Benefits Conference (9/14/12): Dr. Vitale reported that he was registered to attend the ADA Dental Benefits Conference.
I. Horizon Dental Advisory Committee: The council reviewed the description and duties of Horizon’s Dental Advisory Committee, required to be formed as part of the class action settlement. The committee consists of five members, two of whom were to be appointed by NJDA. Drs. Vitale and Bilenker agreed to serve on this committee.
J. ADA Code Action Report (previously emailed): The council discussed ADA’s code action report. Several new procedure codes were approved by the committee to be included in the 2013 CDT, including new bone grafting codes in the implant category, and a restorative procedure for resin infiltration of incipient smooth surface lesions.
K. Medicaid Orthodontic Coverage: The council reviewed the new criteria developed by the state for approving “medically necessary” orthodontic treatment. Problems have been experienced in the past year with Medicaid HMOs inappropriately denying qualifying cases.
L. CDBP Insurance Course, October 3, 2012 and March 13, 2013: Dr. Vitale reminded the council that two more dental benefits courses were scheduled, with the presenters including Drs. Bilenker, Dubowsky, Pettigrew and Vitale..

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