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Treasurer's Report Detail || NJDA State Board of Trustees Report
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“Beyond the Employment Agreement: The Life-Cycle of a Dental Practice Entity”
Featured Speaker: Michael Schaff, JD, LLM
Michael Schaff, Chair of the Corporate Department and the Health Care Group and a shareholder of Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A., offers clients a unique skill - his educational background in business, finance and taxation enable him to assess the business ramifications of any business transaction, contract, agreement or negotiation. His knowledge has been particularly beneficial to the structuring of professional practices for many health care professionals including physicians, dentists, chiropractors and others; for the structuring of business entities; for entities interested in buying, selling or merging businesses; and for a variety of other manufacturing, retail, and service businesses requiring legal expertise. Additionally, Mr. Schaff has served as general corporate counsel for many privately-held companies. He is a past Chair and currently a Director of the Health and Hospital Law Section, and Chair of its Physician Practice Committee. Michael was appointed by the New Jersey State Legislature as the only attorney member of the New Jersey Legislature Committee for the Study of Pain Management. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) and at St. John’s University.
This lecture will present a practical approach to the major issues in Buy-ins and Buy-outs, both from the view of the Practice and the New Owner. Issues to be covered include General Considerations, The Buy-in, Anatomy of a Purchase or Subscription Agreement, Governing Documents - Operating Agreement or Shareholders Agreement, The Buy-out and Deferred Compensation Agreements.
Also speaking at our September meeting:
Jim Schulz, the NJDA director of Governmental Affairs, and the executive director of NJDPAC. Prior to joining NJDA, Jim served as the political director for the “Soaries for Congress” campaign. Prior to that, he served as the director of Intergovernmental Affairs for the New Jersey Department of State, where he oversaw all of the legislative and regulatory affairs for the department during parts of the Whitman/DiFrancesco and McGreevey administrations. Jim spent several election cycles with former Congressman Bob Franks. Jim is a strong proponent of using bipartisan, collaborative grassroots initiatives to best influence public policy. He has brought this methodology to the NJDA and NJDPAC, and has seen many successes as a result. He believes that in order to make positive change occur, dentists must get involved at the local level and build personal relationships with their legislators. Only then will organized dentistry become as influential as other well-known professional associations.
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May 10, 2005
Attendance: Ashmen, Brunsden, Courey, Galkin, Glickman, Kahn, Katz, Kline, Krantz, Lawson, Rosen, Schambra, Silverstein, Weiner, Villa, Vitale
Acceptance of Minutes-vote unanimous.
President’s Report-Mitch Weiner
- Hope Holbeck telephoned me the week of the MCC Hygiene Program Award ceremonies to tell me how appreciative the student who won the award (Amy Lynn Ewans) was and how professional looking the award was. I put together the layout and design of the award and will leave a copy of the text for Marlene to store for future reference.
- Thanks to Drs. Vitale and Galkin for submitting more dental assistant photos in order to help us finalize the ‘Careers in Dental Assisting’ Brochure we have been working on this year.
- Kudos once again to Mark Vitale on his staff night efforts- the door prize sponsor list is bigger than ever and the grand prize winner of the Ritz Carlton stay is going to be over the top with joy. It looks to be a fun-filled event.
- As Ross Kline will be the new president of MCDS at staff night, he will also be the new chair of the House of Delegates for Middlesex.
- Thanks again to the entire MCDS Executive Board for your support during my presidency year.
Treasurer’s Report-James Courey
See full report on page 3.
Program Chairperson’s Report-Mark Vitale
Dr. Sirois was very well received at last month’s general meeting. We are considering asking him to present a full day course. For Staff Night, we expect to have around 300 people. There will be open bar all night. There will be $5000-$6000 in prizes given away, all at no cost to us. My sister has been helping organize the night and she has been responsible for obtaining the prize donations.
NJDA Council Reports:
Dental Benefits-Mark Vitale
-CRP Statistics was reviewed from January 1, 2005 through May 31, 2005. There were 70 complaints submitted to NJDA; 24 were resolved, 12 were for data purposes, 28 are pending, and 6 were not resolvable.
-Dr. Iserson reported on his meeting with Delta. Delta is not allowing payment on two surgical procedures performed at one visit. However Delta is making an allowance in the case of a facial space infection where an I&D is performed on the same day as an extraction. Delta announced that plans will now include brush biopsies and stressed the use of FDA/ADA guidelines on prescribing radiographs.
-Staff reported on and is investigating local variations in out of state Delta processing policies. There are Delta USA policies that are inconsistent with CDT-2005. As an example, a dentist submitted for bitewings and 3 PA’s. Delta changed the procedure code for the first periapical film to “each additional” because they considered the BW to be the first PA. This resulted in a lower payment.
-Dentists in Delta’s PPO must now certify that they document signed patient consent to treatment in the patient’s chart. This will be part of Delta’s credentialing requirements. Informed consent is not currently part of the State Board regulation on patient records, but the board is considering adding it to the regulations.
-The council reviewed concerns with Met Life’s unusual and excessive request for “further information” on claims, and its failure to develop a list of documentation requirements. Met Life responded to an inquiry by NJDA stating that this will be corrected. To date problems are still arising with MetLife since they are not providing documentation requirements as required. This has become a particular problem for non-par dentists. NJDA sent a letter to Dr. Vogel, Met Life’s National Director, concerning the inordinate number of complaints related to Met Life’s consultant reviews.
-The council reviewed correspondence between the ADA and Delta concerning completion instructions of the coordination of benefits section of the ADA claim form. Delta is concerned that the instructions could lead dentists to believe that they should check “yes” for other coverage if a claim is being submitted to another plan. In fact the other box should be checked if the patient has coverage under another dental or medical plan without regard to whether a claim is submitted to that plan.
-The council reviewed the new AFLAC dental plan available to individuals in NJ. This plan pays full policy benefits regardless of other coverage. This plan is not subject to COB regulations and NJDA is seeking clarification as to whether this plan must be reported as other coverage on the claim form.
-ADA Council on Dental benefits contacted its constituents with a request that they begin logging in member complaints regarding dental benefit plans to enable the ADA to begin to monitor this activity on a national basis. NJDA appears to be the only constituent with a formal system for monitoring already in place and providing assistance in resolving third party complaints.
-Dental Practice Association of NJ received regulatory approval to become only the third licensed Dental Service Plan in NJ. Benecare will provide administrative services and is soliciting dentists in the southern part of the state. Dentists may want to clarify policies and procedures with Benecare.
-The Board of Dentistry regulations are due to be readopted and some amendments have been proposed. One proposed change might be problematic for dentists if applied literally to every procedure. Specifically, if adopted, patient records would have to include a “diagnosis and treatment plan, which shall also include the treatment risks, alternatives, and costs relative to the treatment that is recommended or rendered”. While prudent dentists do discuss these issues with patients the proposal seems overly broad and unclear. NJDA will be submitting written comments.
-All dentists who are HIPAA covered entities must apply for and begin using a National Provider Identifier (NPI) by May 23, 2007. The application may be submitted on line or by paper. The tutorial can be accessed at www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/hipaa2/.
-An amended version of the council’s resolution on blood pressure monitoring was adopted by NJDA Board of Trustees. The adopted resolution reads: Resolved, that the NJDA recommend to its members that they follow ADA guidelines for the screening of patients’ blood pressure during visits to the dental office.
Committee Reports:
Mentor-Ethan Glickman
The June OSHA course is almost full. We are planning on offering the course again in October.
Old Business
We are continuing to work on the Dental Assisting brochure. We will market to Guidance Counselors first, then to people who may consider dentistry as a second career.
Good and Welfare
The Board thanked Dr. Weiner for his service as our President this past year.
Respectfully Submitted, Bob Silverstein, Secretary
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(4/1/05-7/31/05)
Checking 41,018.49 27,579.89
Money Market 58,098.13 58,269.60
TOTAL 99,116.62 85,849.49
P&L STATEMENT CHECKING ACCOUNT
(4/1/05-7/31/05)
INCOME
Corp Spon-Mentor 3,313.00
Dues 11,935.75
Interest 33.67
Staff Night - inc 9,144.50
Corp Spon - CE 0.70
TOTAL INCOME 24,427.62
EXPENSES
Executive Secretary 1,400.00
Children’s Dental Health Month 854.70
Dinner meetings 4,805.01
Plaques 136.50
Telephone 379.50
Lecturer Fees 500.00
Executive Comm Dinner 494.16
Office Supplies 667.49
Name Badges 78.30
Mentor Comm-exp 358.57
Staff Night 21,561.19
Continuing Ed-exp 4,377.88
Board Member Expense 182.75
Donations 2,000.00
Memorials and Gifts 106.17
Postage 364.00
Secretarial 100.00
TOTAL EXPENSES 37,866.22
Checking Acct. Net -13,438.60
P&L MONEY MARKET ACCOUNT
(4/1/05-7/31/05)
INCOME
Interest 171.47
TOTAL INCOME 171.47
EXPENSES
TOTAL EXPENSES 0.00
Money Market Net 171.47
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Congratulations in Order
On May 4th, MCDS Life Member Dr. Marvin J. Ladov received the Award of Honor from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ. The RWJUH Award of Honor recognizes exemplary employees and other individuals who have made a significant contribution to the hospital mission of care, outreach, research and education. The Award of Honor was begun in the hospital’s centennial year of 1984 and is the institution’s highest honor. Dr. Ladov is the Co-Chief of the Department of Dentistry at RWJUH and Chief of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
NJDA Noteworthy News
Council on Governmental Affairs – Mr. Jim Schulz
A year ago we were struggling with the affects of the gross receipt tax on cosmetic procedures and lobbied to have it reduced to just in-house cosmetic bleaching. This year we are trying to get the tax repealed. Currently the state budget process is evolving. The Professional Service tax bill is dead. There is a new tax on the horizon, a revenue tax. Every HMO will be subject to a corporate business tax. The insurance world is up in arms and, of course, there is concern that premiums will then go up. There are a lot of questions concerning what will or will not be taxed.
For the first time, every trustee, officer, council chair and component president joined Diamond Club. We are moving in the right direction and acknowledged all the hard work that Dr. Charles Perle did to accomplish this. This only reinforces how productive calls from members to members are.
Dr. Frank Graham asked that PAC and Diamond Club trustees go back to their respective components and explain what is expected from the leadership. We should cultivate “Leadership by Example”. It was suggested that the component newsletters document the PAC and Diamond Club members.
Council on Dental Care Programs – Mary Moskal
The Dental Practice Association of New Jersey, Inc. (sponsored by the Atlantic-Southern Dental Foundation) has recently received regulatory approval and becomes only the third licensed Dental Service Plan in New Jersey, the others being Delta Dental Plan and Unity Dental Service Plan. DPANJ has made arrangements with Benecare for administrative services, and is currently soliciting for participating dentists in the southern part of the state, with plans to go statewide in the future. Dentists may want to have a clarification of some issues in the participating dentist agreement and determine the plan’s “policies and procedures”.
The descriptior for the CDT 2005 procedure code D1320 (tobacco counseling for the control and prevention of oral disease) is vague. NJDA staff does not have further information as to what this service may include (e.g., length of time, prescribing of medications, etc.) The state is considering allowing benefits under Medicaid for this procedure.
NJDA has received an inordinate number of complaints related to MetLife’s consultant reviews. Although claims were eventually paid after NJDA intervention, the problem is obviously systemic and NJDA wrote to MetLife’s national dental director to request his personal investigation of the situation. ADA was also advised of the problem.
There is a website (www.doctoroogle.com), billed as being “by patients for patients”, where dental patients can post reviews of their dentists in five areas: Facilities; service; painless; results; and cost. Although New Jersey is not specifically listed on the menu, many New Jersey dentists appear in the New York section.
Communication & Governmental Affairs – Eric Elmore
The Membership Directory is nearly completed and should be in the mail by the third or fourth week of July. There is enough advertising to cover the expenses and we should have an electronic version available by July 11th on the website. This information will be updated approximately every six weeks by adding data of new members. The Web audit is complete. Everything has been updated and everything that needed to be changed was changed. The message boards are now active on the Web. The Smile Line is temporarily off line.
This summer we will be attempting to get banner advertisements from our endorsed companies. We have had some preliminary discussion with a company that creates websites and are trying to get a one page information only website address free for our members. Costs will occur when a member wants to make any upgrades to the information only website. Press releases have been sent out to local newspapers of the new officers and trustees. This year we are attempting to build better relationships with the media and have targeted approximately 35 media contacts.
The Member’s Edge program has received good reports from three of the companies (Ray Catena, Cruise Value and Joseph A. Banks). We plan to continue with all the companies in this program through the holiday season and re-evaluate them in January, 2006.
Meetings & Events – Ricky Dibofsky
Dr. Carmine LoMonaco is the newly appointed chairperson and the Council will elect its new vice chair at that meeting. Ms. Dibofsky is still conducting her site visits for a possible venue change. To date, we are still looking at the Taj Mahal, Bally’s and the Convention Center.
Council on Membership – Tricia DeCotiis
It was suggested that components invite junior and senior students to their local meetings much like Essex does in September at the officer visitation date.
Letters have been sent to the GPR Directors which will be followed up by phone calls. The directors are being contacted in order to schedule meetings between NJDA and the residents.
Weekend study clubs: September 17, 2005 Forensic Dentistry: October 16, 2005 Digital Photography for the Rest of Us: November 13, 2005 The Risks, Benefits, Indications & Techniques for Immediate Loading/ Provisionalization of Dental Implants: December 10, 2005 -Beyond Pregnancy: Bringing a New Focus to Oral Health Issues
Licenses are up for renewal this year. The Legislature has passed the Nurse Cullen Law requiring that all health care providers be fingerprinted and background checks be made. This will be phased in over the next four years and should not be a concern with the dental licensure renewal this year.
NJDA will have a Hospitality Suite at the ADA Annual Session on Friday, October 7, 2005, for three hours between 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm. The purpose of the hospitality suite is to recruit new members.
President’s Report – Dr. August D. Pellegrini
This past Monday, July 27th, Dr. Pellegrini went to the State House in Trenton, along with Dr. Graham and Art Meisel. Both the Senate and the Assembly presented NJDA with a joint resolution acknowledging NJDA’s work with Give Kids A Smile (GKAS). The resolution will be displayed on the wall of the Board Room.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & LEGAL COUNSEL’S REPORT – Mr. Arthur Meisel
The $75.00 fee that was being charged to subsidize medical malpractice premiums is being challenged by the New Jersey State Bar Association. The Court recently granted summary judgment to the State, however, the Bar Association is talking about appealing. On Monday, July 27th, Acting Governor Cody submitted a reorganization plan that would make the Public Health Council an advisory committee. We are meeting on Tuesday with the Chief of Staff of the Governor’s office to talk about this change and fluoridation. We are assessing how this affects us. We would have to go through the Department of Health rather than the Public Health Council. After carefully assessing the situation, a decision will be made whether or not we want to challenge the reorganization plan in court after the meeting in the Governor’s office and after the Budget is passed. A decision will be made in conjunction with the President, Executive Director, President-Elect and immediate Past President. It was the general consensus of the Board of Trustees that this be done, if deemed appropriate.
We submitted a comment on the readoption of the State Board of Dentistry rules on one proposed addition to the patient record rule. The enteral sedation regulation has been adopted but will not become effective until it is published in the NJ Register. Presently, there is no application form for a permit nor any approved courses to take. This is a serious problem and, in turn, could greatly affect the public. We will continue to pursue this so that the public is not harmed.
The Task Force on Access to Care proposed a recommendation adopted by the Board to develop and implement a pilot project program in one grade in one school in one school district. That way, unforeseen problems can be identified and resolved in a manageable way before a more ambitious program is rolled out. A meeting has been held with Celeste Wood, an Assistant Commissioner in the Department of Health & Sr. Services and with Bev Kupiec. They are both in favor and will set up a meeting with the Department of Human Services and the Department of Education.
MCDS Welcomes new
Hospital residents
JFK:
Dr. Snehal Patel, UMDNJ
Dr. Ewa Baginski, UMDNJ
RWJUH:
Dr. Jenan Agnihotri,UMDNJ
Dr. Joseph R. Caravano,UMDNJ
Dr. Aristotle Lyssikatos, NYU
Dr. Priti Jain, Univ of Illinois
Dr. Virginia Suarez, UMDNJ