Back to the table of contentsProgram || President's Message || MCDS Board of Trustees / Committee Reports
Treasurer's Report Detail || Announcements/Articles || Upcoming Course Registration Forms
For pictures and advertisements, see the newsletter in PDF format
When it comes to discussing performance and salary with employees, most dentists are extremely uncomfortable. This session will reveal why you must evaluate performance, providing the connection to the “expected” annual salary increase that most employees have! This program will also highlight the current trends in compensation and benefit packages that employers around the country are providing.
Char Sweeney began her career in dentistry in 1979 as a chair side dental assistant. After receiving her degree in Allied Health Science Dental Technology she returned to private practice as a business assistant, and eventually, a practice administrator. She was an independent practice management consultant prior to joining Linda L. Miles & Associates in 1992. Char has lectured at numerous dental meetings and has been published in numerous journals and newsletters throughout the country. Char’s experience and enthusiasm for dentistry, as well as her love of people, enable her to offer concrete solutions to the daily stumbling blocks all practices encounter. She has worked in both the business and clinical aspect of dentistry, and understands the unique challenges that both areas face. Her goal is to help clients create a sound business plan and assist everyone in reaching their true potential.
The second half of the year is usually an exciting time for MCDS and this year is no exception. With two full day courses remaining, one in March and one in April, our society has many things to look forward to. In addition to these upcoming full day courses, MCDS is also hosting our final “event” of the year in May.
Watching the beginning of the Winter Olympics has made me think of this event earlier than I usually do. The event that I am referring to is our annual Staff Night, which will take place on Tuesday, May 18, 2010. I am sure that you are asking yourself how do the Olympics conjure up thoughts of Staff Night? But when you really think about it, there is more in common with Olympic teams and the staffs in our offices than you might initially think. Think of it this way, the Olympics are composed of teams from countries throughout the world. Each of these teams works together for a common goal, working together to win the most medals for their respective countries. In our offices, each of our staffs is similar to an Olympic team in that we all are working towards a common goal. The goal in our case is delivering dental care in a professional atmosphere. Everyone in our offices has an important role in achieving this goal, from the doctor to the dental auxiliaries to the non-clinical staff members. Just like the Olympics, everyone must work as a team to make our practices successful. If our “teams” do not work together, our goals will not be met and our practices will suffer greatly. This is why I believe it is great that we have an event like Staff Night. It is a night that we can show our “teams” how important they are to each of us and how much we appreciate each and every member. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the daily grind of our practices and our personal life that we neglect to show our appreciation to our staff members. Staff Night gives us a chance to celebrate what our staff means to each of us. Without them, we would not be able to have the success that we have. Staff Night is also a time when “teams” from different offices can get together and have a fun time in a social atmosphere. In addition to being a social event, Staff Night allows each of us to relate to people who work each day under similar circumstances to what we are accustomed to. It can be a comforting thing to realize that we are not in this profession alone. If you have never been to Staff Night, I would urge you and your “team” to try to make it on the 18th of May and if you have attended previously, I am sure that you will be there again. It is a fun time for everyone and gives us all a chance to reflect on the great profession that we have.
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-02/09/2010-
Attendance: Ashmen, Bernstein, Cicalese, Galkin, Glickman, Goldstein, Kahn, Krantz, Mir Madjlessi, Prabhu, Savage, Schambra, Silverstein, Stein, Villa, Vitale,Vora, Weiner, Marlene Glickman
Acceptance of Minutes-vote unanimous.
President’s Report-Scott Galkin
MCDS has an exciting second half of the year planned. We are hosting 2 full day C.E. courses, one in March and one in April. We also have our annual Staff Night on Tuesday, May 18, 2010. This year all MCDS dentists will be charged for Staff Night to help defray the costs. In the past, dentists were not charged for Staff Night, only staff was.
Treasurer’s Report-David Stein
See full report on page 3.
Editor’s Report-Bob Silverstein
The printer is working again after I replaced the transfer kit.
Website Editor’s Report-Bob Silverstein
Just a reminder that the member section of the website is password protected again. The username is “mcds” and the password is “mcds1912”
NJDA Trustee’s Report-Nancy Villa
Dr. Michael Messana was appointed Chair of the new Task Force on Access to Care.
Membership
Ms. Tricia DeCotiis announced that the year end membership number is 4743, an increase of two members over last year. We have had a net increase in membership 9 out of the last 10 years. We have lost 434 members through death, transfers and non-renewals, of this, 221 members were non-renewals. She announced that she is available to go to any component executive board to talk and brain storm with them to develop recruitment and retention strategies.
Annual Session
The board voted to add the immediate past-president as a voting member of the annual session council which will need approval of the House of Delegates.
Benco is co-sponsoring a Hi Tech Vendor Fair at the convention on Saturday, June 12th. Henry Schein has given us a verbal commitment and will sponsor a classroom. Every 2009 partner has re-signed for 2010. HealthCard has moved from bronze to silver. Benco is new for 2010. Proctor-Gamble would like to present a course here at the Association building for orthodontists which will be free and there will be a product give away. Henry Schein is looking to be a Gold partner, which is $16,000 and would like to supply the Association with different type of programs costing up to $16,000. Dr. Mark Vitale is setting up a meeting with Kuwata for purposes of pursing a corporate partnership.
In November TDIC set up phone banks, here at the Association, to promote TDIC and to give a comparable quote. For the quote, the NJDA member received a $20.00 gift card. TDIC felt this was very successful. We will continue with HealthCard on April 8th and ADP on February 9th. Just for calling and receiving a comparable quote, you will receive a $20.00 gift card.
Task Force on ADA Delegates and Alternates
The 2011 budget will fund 75% if all 24 delegates and alternates attend the ADA mtg. If 18 or fewer attend, NJDA would fully fund them. If more than 18 would go, the delegates and/or the components will complete the funding. [Dr. Maxine Feinberg will run for ADA President-Elect in four years and require up to $200,000 in funding]
Council on Nominations – Dr. Daniel B. Krantz
The following is the slate of officers for the administrative year 2010-2011: Speaker of the House, Walter I. Chinoy; Secretary, Robert A. Giantomas; Treasurer, David P. Donati; Vice President, Michael M. Messana; and President-Elect, Barbara A. Rich. According to the Bylaws, candidates can be nominated by personal petition up to 90 days before the House of Delegates meeting at Annual Session. The deadline is March 12, 2010.
Public Affairs
In November, a toolkit was developed jointly with the direction of the Commissioner of Health and the NJ Office of Minority and Multicultural Health. Jim Schulz was instrumental in getting the Department of Health to present the toolkit to guidance counselors so that they can identify students they feel would go into the dental field. This was covered on TV, radio and print and NJDA received very positive press.
NJDA Council Reports:
Dental Education-Bob Ashmen
The Council on Dental Education met on 1/27/10. The Council is organizing a meeting between the directors of the accredited dental assisting programs in NJ and a group of high school guidance counselors of NJ to educate and raise awareness in the career of dental assisting. The next topic was the Weekend Study Club. The Autumn 2009 series was a huge success, with almost maximum attendance for all lectures (2 of them filled to capacity). The Council will be reviewing applications and selecting speakers for Autumn 2010 beginning in late Spring. We encourage any NJDA members with a lecture of 2-3 hours to submit a lecture outline/application to NJDA. The final topic discussed was the Dental Assisting Program Scholarship. Three deserving recipients received $500 tuition scholarships this year, and it is the Council’s intention to continue this program next year.
Governmental Affairs-Mitch Weiner
Updates on Legislation
CE Credit Waiver Legislation- signed into law (effective 6 months from now)- will provide up to 20 hours of biennial CE for rendering treatment to specifically defined under served patients on a 1/2 CE credit per hour of treatment rendered basis.
Assignment of Benefits Bill- Signed into law; mostly affects medical plans (stand alone dental plans are NOT affected) and dentists that bill for medical covered procedures. For those companies where an insured has their medical and dental through the same carrier (e.g.-Horizon), NJDA feels there is a legal opening to challenge that assignment of benefits should go to a non-par dentist if it is also going to a non-par physician. The question going forward is what direction to be proactive on this matter for organized dentistry: trying to introduce legislation to add dentists to the covered assignment of benefits entities or going the legal route of challenging why dentists shouldn’t be reimbursed the same way physicians are.
Water Fluoridation Legislation is being fought fiercely not only by environmental groups, but also by water and sewage companies.
Governor Christie and Transition Analysis
Many top level appointments are still in the process of being made. The new Commissioner of the DOBI (Dept. of Banking and Insurance) is the former governmental relations rep. for Metlife, who has been firmly in the opposing end of positions with organized dentistry. This new appointment technically makes him a neutral player on issues, but may be an obstacle for having our positions moved forward within the department.
There is a big theme in the Transition Reports of the Christie Administration that health care providers need to be driven into participating networks as non par payments to providers are increasing the costs of health care in NJ. There is talk about capping out of network fees and non-covered services fees (Delta, Metlife and Aetna presently cap uncovered services) in direct opposition to our proposed legislation on this matter, making it very unlikely that our bill would get through or signed by the new governor in this environment. NJDA is looking into a possible legal challenge if the Christie administration eventually moves this idea forward and group’s dentistry in with medicine. The legal argument being considered is that legislators shouldn’t be able to control costs that have nothing to do with insurance (in the case of non-covered services).
The new administration is looking into the compression or omission of some professional boards in the state due to the NJ state pension fund burdens assumed when professional board members use their appointments as a pathway to securing pension fund vestment. This is a big pet peeve of the new governor. NJDA is vehemently against compressing professional boards and will be taking initiative to secure the continuation of the State Board of Dentistry in its present form.
The very good news is that Steve Sweeney, the new NJ Senate President is a friend of organized dentistry. Barbara Buono, the new Senate majority leader also has a good relationship with NJDA. In addition, Jim Schulz has personal relationships with Governor Christie’s chief of staff and the lieutenant governor, which will open the doors for communication so our voice can be heard on matters of interest.
Public Affairs
GKAS- will have nearly 100 sites this year. Some legislators have even promoted GKAS themselves through press releases.
NJDA has been involved with an outreach program, recently held in Newark and attended by NJDA President Steve Fink, to get minority high school students to take an interest in the health professions.
NJDA has received support for Oral Cancer Awareness Month from legislators, including 2 that have been treated for oral cancer and can attest to the benefits of early detection.
NJDA is in discussions to partner with the NJ Devils in promoting the use of mouthguards.
New Business
A coalition is forming amongst the professional societies in the state to repeal the Cosmetic Surgery Tax. Gov. Corzine vetoed the repeal in the past. Gov. Christie’s position is not known.
Mid-Level Providers (e.g.-DHAT’s) are being discussed throughout the country to provide care for at risk populations that are not being served due to geographic or economic access to care issues. Some states have pilot programs with DHAT’s and NJDA is closely monitoring the situation as it pertains to NJ as ‘access to care’ is a hot button political issue.
Membership-Tara Savage
The Council on Membership met on January 14, 2010. NJDA ended the year 2009 with 4,743 members, a net increase of 2 members from the previous year. NJDA has had an increase in membership 9 out of the past 10 years. NJDA lost 434 members in 2009 through death, transfers and non-renewals. Of these, 221 were non-renewals. There were 87 dues waivers granted in 2009, up 9 from the previous year. Middlesex ended the year with 471 members, down 10 from the previous year. NJDA will be focusing on retention of the non-renews. As suggested at the Board of Trustees meeting, NJDA sent out a 2010 bill to all 2009 non-renews with a special letter. The bills went out on February 3, 2010 and the results of this will be reported at the next membership meeting. The next council on membership meeting is scheduled for April 22, 2010.
MCDS Study Club
The next Middlesex County Dental Society study club meeting will be held on February 18, 2010 at 6:30 pm at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Edison, NJ. The speaker for the meeting will be Pamela Rachil who will be giving a presentation titled “Improving Cash Flow with Billing and Collections Best Practices.” 2 CE credits will be awarded. The study club is a member benefit available to all MCDS members. Please contact Marlene Glickman, our Executive Secretary, at 732-238-1255 for additional information and registration in advance.
Peer Review-Sandy Goldstein
There were no new cases mediated or settled during the month of January 2010.
Committee Reports:
Mentor-Ethan Glickman/Amit Vora/Nima MirMadjlessi
Our bi-annual OSHA program that satisfies the OSHA standard on Occupational Exposure to Blood Borne Pathogens, which is required annually for dentists and staff, will be given on June 3, 2010 at St. Peter’s Medical Center, New Brunswick.
Dr. Sandy Goldstein will present the next mentor program on April 8, 2010. He will speak about: “Peer Review: The Good, Bad and Ugly” at St. Peter’s Medical Center, New Brunswick. Two CEU credits are awarded to the Dentists & staff members attending these 2-hour seminars. These seminars are available to our members & staff for $25/pp as a member benefit of MCDS.
A very big “Thank You” to Dr. Joe Fertig, Director of Dental Services - St. Peter’s Medical Center, for arranging all our room accommodations for the MCDS-OSHA-Mentor programs at St. Peter’s Medical Center in New Brunswick.
Please see the insert in this newsletter for additional information and registration for the Mentor program.
New Business
Dr. Silverstein made a motion to allocate up to $100 for the purchase of a new digital camera to replace the one that he had been using to take pictures for the newsletter (the camera recently stopped functioning correctly). The motion passed without objection.
Respectfully Submitted,
Constantine Simos,
Secretary
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Dr. David Stein
January 31, 2010
| 1/31/09 | 12/31/09 | 1/31/10 | |
| Checking $ 2,238.42 | $1,162.97 | $1,163.24 | |
| Savings | $11,293.98 | $35,709.28 | $35,732.03 |
| CD (2% matures 12/10/09) | |||
| $25,000.00 | $0(Closed) $0 | ||
| PayPal | $1,650.95 | $1,444.30 | $2,277.85 |
| TOTAL: | $40,183.35 | $38,316.55 | $39,173.12 |
| P&L STATEMENT CHECKING ACCOUNT | |||
| (1/1/10-1/31/10) | |||
| INCOME | |||
| INTEREST | 0.27 | ||
| TOTAL INCOME | 0.27 | ||
| OVERALL TOTAL | 0.27 | ||
| P&L SAVINGS ACCOUNT | |||
| (1/1/10-1/31/10) | |||
| INTEREST INCOME | 22.75 | ||
| OVERALL TOTAL | 22.75 | ||
| P&L PAYPAL MONEY MARKET | |||
| (1/1/10-1/31/10) | |||
| CONT EDUC INC | 576.84 | ||
| OVERALL TOTAL | 576.84 | ||
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MCDS Newsletter Online
Please register online to receive our newsletter electronically, in lieu of receiving it in the mail.
Click on the “Member” link, then the
“Of Current Interest” Link.
By registering, you will be able to view the newsletter about a week before it would get to you in the mail, and this will also be saving us money.
Provide NJDA with your email address!
By having your email address, NJDA can get vital and timely information to you. Register at www.NJDA.org.
To the Members of Middlesex County Dental Society from your Board of Trustees
On February 16th at the Pines Manor, an appeal was made to the MCDS membership to strengthen our Dental Political Action Committee through donating at any level. Our Director of Governmental Affairs, Jim Schulz, is highly respected for his dental lobbying prowess both in Trenton and in Washington. Unfortunately, the anemic response of the membership at large to our Political Action Committee (PAC) appeals has left us underfunded to fight the key battles that are confronting our profession. With donations and participation in PAC down almost 47 percent, Jim is facing the daunting task of allocating PAC money in our best interests, this is comparable to giving a top-notch firefighter a water gun to put out a fire.
As your Board of Trustees, we are all too aware of the impact the economy has had on our patients and the bottom line of our practices. We also know that dentists spend thousands of dollars per year on commercial property and liability, malpractice, disability, disability overhead and life insurance of which we reap (if we’re lucky!) no tangible benefit in real time. We look at our membership in organized dentistry and our contribution to PAC as an ‘insurance expense’ that provides us a real time benefit.
Even though obtaining low cost CE and enjoying the camaraderie of our fellow dentists is rewarding, our true purpose of being affiliated with organized dentistry is to give a strong collective voice to our concerns as a profession that we as individuals could not accomplish, and to protect the value of our services from negative regulations and legislation, and false allegations. In effect it impacts on our profession, our practices, our patients, and our families. Our Political Action Committee is our collective voice and we urge you to join the chorus in your prompt and generous contribution to NJDPAC for 2010.
Please complete the form in this newsletter and fax or mail it to NJDA. If you have any questions feel free to contact Mark Vitale (732-494-7575), Mitch Weiner (732-297-4900) or Jim Schulz (732-821-9400).
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.
-MCDS Board of Trustees
General Meeting Business
At the February 17th General Meeting, Dr. Maya Prabhu, MCDS President Elect and Chairperson of the Nominations Committee, put forth the slate of officers for 2010-2011 for a vote. There were no nominations from the floor and the slate was unanimously approved.
It’s All New At The 2010 Garden State Dental Conference & Expo!
Join your colleagues from across the state at the New Jersey Dental Association’s 2010 Garden State Dental Conference & Expo. For the first time in a decade, the conference will be held on a weekend, June 11-13, 2010 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City!
The New Jersey Dental Association is celebrating its 140th year with more continuing education, more products and technology and our best exhibit floor in years!
New…
• The Henry Schein classroom on the exhibit floor, where the world’s largest distributor of dental supplies will offer free continuing education courses on practice management, technology, dental software and more from Noon to 4 PM on Friday and Saturday.
• Get a sneak preview of our exhibitors’ newest products on display in the registration area.
• Join Benco Dental on Saturday for a High Tech Vendor Fair with up-close looks at the latest equipment from companies such as A-dec, 3M, Vatech and others.
• Additional free continuing education opportunities with Breakfast & Learns and Lunch & Learns throughout the weekend.
• Welcome Reception on Friday and Mini-Reception on Saturday
• Great prize drawings both days!
• Print your CE attendance verification certificates in the CyberPavilion before you head home!
• NJDA member dentists are invited to present a table clinic on Friday. Details and application are in the February issue of NJDA Advocate.
Coming in 2011…
• Featured speaker Dr. Carl Misch
• A full-weekend of fun in the sun at Ocean Place Resort & Spa in Long Branch, NJ -- June 24-26, 2011.
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE MIDDLESEX COUNTY DENTAL SOCIETY
Recently a fellow society member, Dr. Scott Lurie, had some untrue and malicious information spread about him to many dentists in our area. In defense of himself, Dr. Lurie is sending or has already sent to each licensed dentist in both Monmouth and Middlesex Counties, a letter further explaining the specifics of this horrible situation. Along with his explanation, Dr. Lurie is also sending a supporting letter from Mr. Jonathan Eisenmenger, the Executive Director of the New Jersey State Board of Dentistry. Below is an additional letter in support of Dr. Lurie submitted by three members of MCDS.
Recently, many of you may have received an oddly labeled letter supposedly from the “State Board of Dentistry.” In the letter, Dr. Scott Lurie was named and an accusation leveled against him. The accusation is false and is the product of a malicious attack on Dr. Lurie. The despicable nature of this attack compels us to write this letter in support of Scott and as a warning to other dentists in our community.
Scott has been a friend and colleague for years. He is an outstanding dentist and individual. While such a sloppy attempt to smear Dr. Lurie should raise suspicion in anyone’s mind that such a letter was indeed a fraud, the impact on Scott was significant. It warrants a response and a warning to all dentists during these harrowing times. Patients and staff can be unpredictable; most of us understand and have experienced this firsthand. We urge all dentists to protect themselves as much as possible from such smears.
In the end, Scott and his family are our personal friends. This was an unprecedented slanderous attack. While I’m sure the MCDS will take appropriate measures to inform their members, we cannot help but voice our outrage over such an effort to harm our friend and colleague.
-Drs. Richard E. Goldberg, Jeff Karlin, Richard Stern