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STAFF NIGHT — A Deserving Tribute
As we gather this month to honor our respective staffs for their contribution to our success, we should reflect on how each separate staff person is so vital to the practice as a whole. Any practitioner who forgets the vital function of a staff person is clearly reminded of it when he/she calls in sick and we are left to perform his/her functions on top of our treatment duties.
In an age where loyalty to an employer in the marketplace is becoming nonexistent, many of us are blessed with employees who will go to the end of the earth for us because they believe in us and we have made them feel a vital part of our business. For these staff members who show unyielding loyalty to us during inevitable hard times, this night of tribute is deserving. As our practices are extentions of ourselves, so too are our staffs extensions of our families. There is no doubt that they see sides of us only our immediate family members know about.
We hope that you make every effort to honor your staffs by attending this special event.
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-April 11, 2006-
Attendance: Ashmen, Brunsden, Courey, Galkin, Glickman, Krantz, Lawson, Nandra, Patel, Savage, Silverstein, Simos, Stein, Villa, Weiner
Acceptance of Minutes-vote unanimous.
President’s Report-Stephen Lawson
Two MCDS members completed applications requesting financial waivers due to financial hardship. These waivers were approved for 2006 and sent to Judy Teresi at NJDA.
Bob Silverstein will be provided all letters, applications, reports, etc. that were sent to the MCDS President during 2005-06. These documents can be scanned and stored at the MCDS website.
I received a letter from Dr. Steve Fink who is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Corporate Funding. NJDPAC was informed by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission that any state component dental society, which is not a 501(C)(3) corporation for federal tax purposes, may contribute up to a maximum of $7,200 per year to the NJDPAC. MCDS does not qualify to make this contribution to NJDPAC. However, only 29 percent of NJDA members contribute to NJDPAC. This year alone, NJDPAC has had more than 75 fund raising requests from legislators, political parties and politicians asking for our help. Please make an individual contribution to NJDPAC. If you have any questions, contact Jim Schulz, NJDPAC Executive Director.
The ADA Golden Apple Awards program is an opportunity for MCDS to gain recognition for our leaders, members and staff. Now in its 18th year, the program offers awards in nine different categories. The Board of Trustees will discuss if MCDS and its members are eligible for any of these awards. The deadline is 6/1.
Treasurer’s Report-James Courey
See full report on page 3.
Editor’s Report-Mitch Weiner, Bob Silverstein, Constantine Simos
The May issue will be the final issue of the ‘05-’06 season. Any submissions not received by April 18th will have to be deferred until the September issue.
Program Chairperson’s Report-Scott Galkin
The speaker for Tuesday’s nights meeting will be Dr. Michael Glick, he will be speaking on “Emerging Infectious Diseases.” Dr. Glick is the editor of Journal of the American Dental Association, the Director of the Division of Oral Medicine at UMDNJ, and the Chair of the Department of Diagnostic Sciences at UMDNJ. Dr, Glick is being honored as our Sy Symanski Memorial lecturer for the year.
On Wednesday, April 19th we will be having our last full day lecture of the year. It will be Dr. David Garber on the topic of “Esthetic Success - By Design.” This lecture will be sponsored by Kuwata Pan Dent. We have 160 people signed up for the course, which should make for a great day.
Staff night is Tuesday, May 16th and will start at 6:30 p.m. The theme is a Hawaiian Luau night. All doctors and their staffs are encouraged to dress in beach attire; shorts, flower shirts, and dresses. We will be having a DJ and will have many prize giveaways and contests, which should make for a fun night.
NJDA Trustee’s Report-Richard Kahn
See full report on page 4 under NJDA Noteworthy News.
NJDA Council Reports:
Annual Session-Araceli Ziemba
If you have anything to contribute to the silent auction at the annual session, contact NJDA. There is still space available for exhibitors.
Governmental Affairs-Daniel Krantz
We met with Congressmen Holt, Palone, Menendez and presented our positions on issues such as fluoridation (NJ ranks 49th in the nation in this area), the Alaskan dental care issue, amalgam issues, etc.
I attended a breakout session on fluoridation. We are recommending water fluoridation for purely altruistic reasons. On the amalgam separator issue, this is probably going to come to fruition. We are still trying to address this.
The Governor is cracking down on the issue of independent contractors.
There has been a proposal to repeal the cosmetic tax. It is currently projected that $6,000,000 would be collected from the tax, but it would cost $4,000,000 to administer this.
There has been some progress on making sure that if insurance companies are making dental decisions, the person making these decisions must be a licensed dentist.
The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners are performing inspections to make sure that silver recovery from xray processing machines is being handled correctly.
Cancer workshop-Drs. Nandra and Simos
At the workshop, the American Red Cross, Public Health Department, and BlueCross Blue Shield reported on cancer awareness, projects and activities. Every dentist should do oral cancer and soft tissue screenings. It was suggested that residency programs be informed on how to screen for cancer, and that this be part of their comprehensive examination.
Membership-Scott Galkin
The membership subcommittee has started our “New Member Welcome Program,” which has enlisted a “senior” member to help welcome new members to the society. The “senior” member personally invites the new member to our general meeting, meets the member at the meeting, and sits with them at dinner to help get them acquainted to the society. We feel this is a way to make our organization friendlier to new members who might not be familiar with it.
The subcommittee is also working on developing “study clubs” for our younger members. These clubs will help recent graduates get knowledge from our more experienced members on a variety of topics that they can use when starting to enter practice.
The subcommittee will be meeting again on Wednesday April 26, 2006 at 9:00 a.m. This meeting will take place at NJDA headquarters so that the NJDA membership staff can be a part in our discussions.
Peer Review-John Fahsbender, Mark Vitale
There is one case in active mediation.
Committee Reports:
Mentor-Ethan Glickman
The next OSHA course is on June 22nd. There are 43 people signed up as of today. We will probably have another OSHA course in October. Just a reminder that this course is a great member benefit: I recently received an ad for another OSHA seminar and it was for $69; we charge $15.
New Business
Dr. Glickman brought up an issue that was presented in the NJDA resource manual. There was an issue with a line item published in the resource manual recently mailed to members regarding which dental staff members can apply sealants and topical applications of fluoride after dental prophylaxis.
A task force was established that will meet over the summer to develop a dental assisting program sponsored by MCDS.
Good & Welfare
Dr. Lawson- I would like to see the General Meetings become more organized. Many members are not paying attention to announcements, motions, etc. and are continuing their conversations during the business meeting. Once the business meeting starts, we would like to have the attention of all members. In addition, there have been loud conversations at the tables during the speaker’s presentation. As a courtesy to the speaker, please take any conversations outside the room.
Dr. Krantz- Dr. Richard Kahn will be inducted as NJDA treasurer at the annual session.
Dr. Ashmen- We have commitments for 2 full day courses for next year: Baumgarten and Lauciello in 4/18/07 and Dr. Adams 11/8/06. Excel-Berger dental lab is sponsoring both courses. We will be contacting Kuwata to see if they want to sponsor a third course.
Respectfully Submitted,
Bob Silverstein for Mark Vitale
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(2/28/06-3/31/06)
Checking (0.25%) 6,336.60 14,565.47
Savings (3.6%) 37,780.13 37,898.53
CD (4.25%) 45,000.00 45,000.00
TOTAL 89,116.73 97,464.00
P&L STATEMENT CHECKING ACCOUNT
(2/28/06-3/31/06)
INCOME
Cont. Educ. -INC 2,860.00
Corp Spon C.Ed. 1,500.00
Corp Spon-meetings 1,000.00
Dues 12,575.00
Interest 1.73
Total Income 17,936.73
EXPENSES
Accountant fees 250.00
Cont. Educ. -EXP 500.00
Dinner Meetings 6,456.79
Exec Comm Dinner 266.92
Executive Secretary 588.00
Newsletter 124.25
Postage 438.50
Secretarial 115.00
Staff Night 729.70
Telephone 238.70
Total Expenses 9,707.86
OVERALL TOTAL 8,228.87
P&L Savings Account
(2/28/06-3/31/06)
INCOME
Interest 118.40
TOTAL INCOME 118.40
EXPENSES
TOTAL EXPENSES 0.00
OVERALL TOTAL 15,086.35
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Attention:
Volunteers needed for
local MCDS Community
Outreach Oral Cancer
Screenings.
If interested in helping with this worthwhile cause,
call Marlene at 732-238-1255
Dental Specialist seeks office space in previously existing office (with or without equipment) or in exisiting office in either East Brunswick or New Brunswick.
Please contact Dr. Blume at
732-995-2496 or
[email protected]
NJDA Noteworthy News
Medical plans are withholding payment for unrelated purported “overpayments” without notice to the non-participating dentist. In the case of participating dentists, most provider contracts allow the withholding to take place, but it is clearly illegal if the dentist is non-participating.
Council on Governmental Affairs
We have fought hard to beat the professional service tax. However, due to the huge budget deficit, there is talk again about a sales tax on professional services. The state is still funding adult Medicaid. There are legislative issues regarding the tax on cosmetic procedures, however, we are part of a coalition to repeal that tax in New Jersey. Assemblyman Joseph Cryan is sponsoring legislation to repeal this tax. There is quick movement on the dental decision bill. It has been voted out of the Assembly health committee. There is a movement to discuss a compromise and thereby avoid opposition. In PAC news, there has been a tremendous response of members to the Platinum Club as well as Diamond Club. 25% of the Diamond level or higher is MCDS. The big issues in Trenton are Access to Care and Amalgam. The Department of Environmental Protection has a new commissioner who believes in Best Management Practices. The fact that the Budget is bad may create an opportunity to kill the separator mandate. NJDA is still fighting hard to defeat the separator issue.
State Board of Dentistry
There was some discussion about a recently proposed legislative initiative that would permit health care professionals to refuse to perform or assist in health care services that violate their religious, moral or ethical convictions. The Board took the position that the fabrication of tooth jewelry constituted the practice of dentistry, and accordingly, must be performed by a licensed New Jersey dentist. There was discussion about proposed legislation which requires that person(s) making dental decisions in connection to dental insurance coverage be licensed by the Board of Dentistry (A-2134). Jim Schulz spoke in favor of the legislation and he pointed out that Governor Corzine’s Health Care Task Force suggested that dental consultant licensure is an appropriate requirement for insurance company dental consultants. There is a legislative effort to revise procedures for the suspension or revocation of professional licenses of dentists who had outstanding child support obligations. Although several members on the Board expressed concern about the practical effect of a dentist’s ability to pay child support if his/her license is suspended, the Board voted to support the bill. It is required by the State Board that a written report must be made within seven days on incidents occurring in a dental office, clinic or any other dental facility which requires the removal of a patient to a hospital for observation or treatment
Executive Director’s Report
To date dues have been collected of $1.425 million out of $1.648 million. We have 4,224 members either paid in full or credit cards on file. Last count on membership was 4,663 which means we have just 439 outstanding. There will be a protocol established by the Executive Director, Council on Membership and the Board of Trustees to determine a statewide protocol for dues waivers.
Dental school and limited teaching certificate and license
After much debate a motion was made, seconded and ADOPTED by the Board to support the Limited Teaching Certificate amendment by the UMDNJ Dental School. The vote was 12 yes, 5 no with one abstention and one recused.
MCDS wishes to congratulate MCDS Past-Presidents Dr. Richard Kahn, who will be sworn in as NJDA Treasurer and Dr. Daniel Krantz, who will be sworn in as NJDA Vice President at next month’s NJDA Annual Convention in Atlantic City.
EDUCATION, PRACTICE MANAGEMENT, CAMERADERIE
In order to better serve our members, the Middlesex County Dental Society Mentor Committee is organizing study clubs for those dentists who have been practicing five years or less. Please call our executive secretary, Marlene Glickman, at 732-238-1255 to join.