---

MCDS Reduces Dues by $13

Attendance: Bloom, Brunsden, Chustckie, Clemente, DeSciscio, Engel, Fertig, Glickman, Kahn, Kline, Krantz, McLaughlin, Perlmutter, Prabhu, Rosen, Schambra, Silverstein, Villa, Weiner

Acceptance of Minutes –4/11/00-vote unanimous with one correction.
President’s Report-M. Schambra
• The phone line will be installed at the executive secretary’s home on Friday. The new number is 732-238-1255.
• The House of Delegates meeting is 5/10/00 at the Pines Manor.
• The state wide Oral Cancer Screening, administered through UMDNJ, is scheduled for Middlesex County October 24-26. Training will be provided for volunteer dentists so that screenings will be standardized. Doctors Engel, Krantz and Prabhu have volunteered thus far.
• The Middlesex County College is having their pinning ceremony on 5/19/00. Dr. Krantz will present the hygiene award, which is given annually to the graduate with the highest grade point average.
Program-M. Weiner
The Staff Night seating arrangements are complete for those who have responded to date. We have decided to have a table for the dental residents since they showed such an interest in our meetings this year.
Editor’s Report-M. Weiner
We have now finished the first year of in-house printing. The layouts are getting easier, and the sponsorship has exceeded our expectations. The next newsletter will be prepared in August for a September mailing.
NJDA Council Reports:
NJDA Board of Trustees-D. Krantz
• NJDA received four bids for the roofing project. The bids ranged from $72,000 to $98,000. The consultant recommended going with the lowest bidder and the Board agreed with this unanimously.
• A proposal is being prepared to solicit bids for the septic system.
• A special non-member CAPSULE will be going out next week to promote the Annual Session, and Exhibit Hall Only badges will be provided to them.
• The state wide digital radiography course run by the Council on Dental Education had 365 attendees. The course was 6 CEU’s and was free to all NJDA members, except for the cost of lunch.
Annual Session-P. Engel
Several changes were made to this year’s Annual Session in response to last year’s input. There will be a meeting one month after the Session to go over reactions.
Membership-N. Villa
• NJDA sent a mailing to non-members with a personalized cover letter, an invitation to the Annual Session exhibit hall, an application for membership, and the annual publication, “NJDA News for Non-Members.”
• There will be a membership meeting tomorrow morning to determine the direction for the ADA Outreach Program.
Communications-R. Silverstein
The Council is beginning discussions about changes to the Journal. They are considering reducing the number of issues and decreasing the size from 60-80 pages to 20-26 pages.
ADPAC-P. DeSciscio
The annual fundraiser was held on May 3, 2000 and was well attended. An official report will be available at a later date.

Peer Review-J. Fahsbender
One case was settled through mediation.
MCDS Committee Reports:
Corporate Sponsorship-J. Chustckie
We have four to five sponsor tables confirmed for the September dinner meeting.
Continuing Education-Chustckie/Kline
A mailing will be done by NJDA for our fall continuing education program. A motion was made to credit tuition for courses attended by non-members towards their membership dues if they become a member within one year. Vote unanimous.
Mentor-E. Glickman
300 parking vouchers were obtained for the courses being held at St. Peter’s Hospital. Block Drug gave a $500 check to sponsor the OSHA course. Two sponsorship tables were given to Benco and Americus Dental Lab at no cost to thank them for their incredible sponsorship support throughout the past year.
Old Business
Dr. Clemente will remain as the chair for the UMDNJ Foundation. A committee will form to make recommendations regarding MCDS scholarships to dental students.
Good and Welfare
Congratulations to Drs. Charles and Gari Bloom on the birth of their son.
Respectfully submitted,
Bruce A. Huberman, DMD
Secretary

May 1, 2000
Nancy Villa, DMD

Previous Balance (5/1/00)
62,444.21
Current Balance (9/1/00)
65,853.12

PROFIT & LOSS STATEMENT
5/1/00 through 9/1/00
INCOME:
Continuing Education 1,395.00
Corporate Sponsorship
Monthly Meetings 300.00
Newsletter 500.00
Dues 10,969.85
Interest 276.45
Mentor Committee 2,400.00
Staff Night 7,182.00
TOTAL INCOME 23,023.30
EXPENSES:
Accountant Fees 200.00
Children’s Dental Health Month 1,696.67
Executive Committee Dinners 208.93
Dinner Meetings 1,621.00
Dues Refund to NJDA (R1overbilled) 6.25
Mentor Committee 628.98
Newsletter 645.68
Office Supplies 79.20
Plaques 224.63
Secretarial 903.00
Staff Night 12,828.28
Telephone 571.77
TOTAL EXPENSES 19,614.39
Net 3,408.91

Is It Worth It?

My topic for this Tidbit is electronic claims. It is now possible to submit your dental insurance claims electronically, directly from your computer to the insurance company’s computer and have the money electronically transferred to your Bank Account. Proponents of this system claim that you get the money faster, it is easier to track, it improves your cash flow and is cheaper than the old way (Mail, or as my daughter calls it, “snail mail”). The insurance industry wants it because it decreases their costs. Even though they have to pay the money out sooner, they can minimize handling and therefore have lower employee costs. These savings, they claim, can be used for increased benefit payments (yeah, right!). If all these assertions are true, electronic claims sounds like the greatest thing since the 1969 Mets! There are some problems with electronic claims and the positive assertions are part truth and part spin.
Let us take these statements one at a time: You get your money faster. The speed with which you get your money is really irrelevant because it is not claim turnover that keeps your office running, but daily cash flow. Allow me to invent a model based on some simple assumptions. Let us assume that you submit paper claims by mail the same day that the procedure is completed and you accept assignment of benefits. Let us further assume that these claims are clean (undisputed), do not require consultant review, are not “lost in the mail”, and are acted on promptly and properly by the insurance company (big assumption here). Let us also assume that you will get the check for the completed treatment four weeks to the day from date of submission, and your average daily claims are for about the same total amount. What this means is that for claims sent today, you will get paid four weeks from today. For checks received yesterday, the treatment was performed four weeks and a day ago, and for procedures performed tomorrow, you will get paid in four weeks and a day. Every day you receive your mail, get your checks, have a constant cash flow and are happy with the system. You are not concerned about when the procedure was done, as long as your cash flow is constant.
You are now convinced that electronic claims is the answer to your prayers. A new model with new assumptions here. Claims are submitted electronically by your computer. The claims are clean, do not require consultant review or radiographs, and are acted on promptly and properly by the insurance company. Let us further assume that you will be paid in one week, and the paper claims submitted over the past four weeks will continue to come in until there are only electronic claims outstanding. For one week you continue your regular cash flow until the electronic claims kick in. For the next three weeks you get double payments (the recently submitted electronic claims and the previously submitted paper claims). This is great! You can certainly live on double your regular cash flow! What happens in three weeks when the paper claims payments stop coming in? You revert to your regular, average, daily cash flow. Sure you are getting your money faster, but so what? If you should decide to switch back to paper claims, after the electronic claims receivables come in, you will have to wait for three weeks with no cash flow for the regular paper claim cash flow to be reconstituted.
So much for getting your money faster. What about being easier to keep track? Since there are hundreds of different computer software systems out there, there are many different computer languages and protocols. The insurance industry has to protect its own computers from these many systems so Clearinghouses were invented. These entities are the middle man between your computer and and the insurance company’s computers. The way the system is supposed to work is that you submit claims by modem to the clearinghouse, get an electronic receipt for these claims, and the clearinghouse converts the data into a form recognized by the insurance company’s computers and submits the claims. The clearinghouse charges a fee for this service, at present about fifty cents per claim. What happens all too frequently is that you get the electronic receipt, but don’t get paid. The clearinghouse says they forwarded the claim to the insurance company and the insurance company alleges they never received it. You certainly don’t want to get into the middle of a pissing contest between the clearinghouse and the insurance company, you just want your damn money! In addition, the clearinghouse requires access to your computer so that they can extract the data they need. Do you really want to allow a third party to have access to your computer without many safeguards? So much for being easy and uncomplicated.
Are electronic claims cheaper? Remember, the clearinghouse fee is around fifty cents per claim now versus thirty three cents for a stamp. In electronic claims favor, however, you do not need an envelope and someone to stuff it and therefore save on labor costs.
Should you switch to electronic claims? Maybe. But don’t be deluded into thinking that electronic claims are without problems.
All of the opinions expressed are my own; however I try to base them on current facts and information. My main reference source is CDT 3, published by the ADA.
Daniel B. Krantz, DDS, Middlesex Representative to Council on Dental Benefits

EXTENDED COCKTAIL AND HORS D’OEVRE HOUR AT SEPTEMBER MEETING

MCDS WELCOMES NEW AREA RESIDENTS

Annual Crossword Puzzle