Back to the table of contentsProgram || President's Message || MCDS Board of Trustees / Committee Reports
For pictures and advertisements, see the newsletter in PDF format
Employment law can be a minefield for the unwary. This presentation will give you an overview of New Jersey employment law including: at-will employment; the New Jersey law against discrimination; harassment, wage and hour laws; the Conscientious Employee Protection Act; employee handbooks; privacy; and employment contracts and restrictive covenants. You will get practical tips on getting (and keeping) your office in compliance with the law, including checklists and forms. Bring your toughest employment law questions!
Since 1998, Ann Kiernan has been a sole practitioner focusing on preventative law for employers, including review of corporate policies, advice on compliance with state and federal requirements, counseling on disciplinary and/or termination decisions, and training on managing within the law, corporate compliance, and preventing harassment. Ann attended Rutgers School of Law-Newark J.D., 1981 and Rutgers College, New Brunswick, NJ A.B. with departmental honors (History), 1977. She is a member of several Professional Societies and has been published in numerous Law Journals. In addition, she has chaired or been a panelist in numerous programs for the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education, covering topics in attorney ethics, federal practice, and employment law and litigation.
Perhaps I risk dating myself, but I come from the pre-internet era and I can still recall attending a CE course in the early 1990s where the wonders of the Internet were introduced as the road to the future. I look around today and see how the world has responded not only to the Internet, but also to the various social media networks that have emerged as a consequence. I confess that I resisted joining Facebook until I was forced to respond to an alumni organization and even now, I am not entirely conversant with it. However, I am not blind to the fact that this is the future, and it has been embraced not just by the younger generation but has successfully captured a market spanning all age groups. At the time of writing this message, there were 111,212,840 users of Facebook in the US alone with an average user spending 55 minutes per day at this site. Those who used Facebook on their mobile devices were twice as active than non-mobile users. The retail industry was quick to recognize its marketing potential and soon other industries followed suit. The other day, at our education committee meeting, Dr. Ira Rosen introduced the idea of creating a Facebook page for our dental society. The committee unanimously approved his idea and Dr. Alyssa Bernstein offered to set it up. I am aware that many dental practices are already on Facebook and use it as a forum for communication and dissemination of information. I welcome any member who can contribute technical expertise in setting up this site to help Dr. Bernstein in her efforts. As our dental society demographics continue to evolve, there is a need to keep pace with the times, and this Board strives to move in that direction. I urge every member to respond to our website editor's request of having the newsletter e-mailed to them in lieu of snail-mail. It saves the society money, which can then be translated into providing you with other more tangible benefits such as better CE courses or even perhaps off-setting dues increases, budget permitting. Regarding full day CE events that are sponsored by our dental society, I would love to see greater participation from you all because support from members is justification for this society's very existence. While the conveniences of the Internet have brought the concept of webinars right into our homes, the social camaraderie of a "live" interaction with friends and colleagues is a value that simply cannot be quantified. Tuesday nights at the Pines Manor is proof enough! See you then.
| Back to the table of contents |
-1/20/2011-
Attendance: Ashmen, Chustckie, Desai, Goldstein, Kaga, Krantz, Mir Madjlessi, Prabhu, Rizzi, Schambra, Silverstein, Stein, Vitale, Vora, Weiner, Marlene Glickman
Acceptance of Minutes-vote unanimous
President's Report-Maya Prabhu
The RWJ residency program was presented a grant for a digital camera by MCDS. Henceforth, the deadline for grant proposals will be August 31st to allow the budget committee to account for the expense. A letter from the President announcing the availability of such grants should be mailed out to RWJ and JFK programs by March to allow sufficient time for proposals to be submitted.
A blast email survey was sent out to the membership with questions regarding member preferences about continuing education courses offered by MCDS. The responses were presented to the board and will be presented to the members at the general meeting. A few board members have volunteered to be at the meeting with their laptops to have any interested members take the survey during the general meeting.
Treasurer's Report-David Stein
See full report on page 3.
Editor's Report-Bob Silverstein
I encourage all members who have not filled out our online CE survey to go to our website and do so. Go to www.MCDSofNJ.org, go to the Members Only section, then Of Current Interest, and click on the link at the top of the page to take the survey.
Educational Coordinator-Alyssa Bernstein
SOCIAL MEDIA REPORT
I have started a Facebook page for the Middlesex County Dental Society. If you go onto Facebook and search for Middlesex County Dental Society you can friend and like our page. It is a work in progress, but I am excited at the idea of our dental society having this form of social media. I am looking forward to working on this.
STAFF NIGHT REPORT
We are excited to announce that Bob Ashmen and Jack Kurlansik along with the rest of their band have agreed to perform at our staff night again this year; they did a great job last year. My staff was thinking of a Jersey Shore boardwalk theme for the evening. They would make Parkway exit signs, the "face from the Asbury Park" boardwalk, I think his name is Tillie, and decorate with a beach theme. We are also looking into getting a fortune teller like they have on the different boardwalks and arcade games, like skeeball etc.
Executive secretary Marlene said that 19 members have registered so far for the full day course on Friday April 8th by Dr. Terry Tanaka. This course is open to doctors and staff.
Give Kids a Smile-Cavan Brunsden
Friday February 4th will be the GKAS day.
NJDA Council Reports:
Annual Session-Nainesh Desai
The Council on Annual Session met on January 18th, 2011. The Garden State Dental Conference and Expo 2011 will be a weekend event at The Ocean Place Resort in Long Branch, NJ, on June 24-26, 2011. Featured speaker, Dr. Carl Misch will be presenting a full-day course on June 24th, 2011, with sponsorship from BioHorizons. There will be no full-day course on Saturday. Contracts have been finalized for a few exciting short 2-4-hour CE courses and Hands-on courses about posterior composites & endodontics (both sponsored by Dentsply) and implant prosthetics (sponsored by NobelBiocare) and Overdentures are being organized for both 24th and 25th. The details of these courses will soon be available to the members. In addition, following last year's trend, a few "Breakfast and learn", "Lunch and learn" courses have been finalized. Two half day courses on dental pharmacology and emergencies will be presented on Saturday, June 25th. The NJDAA/HA will present a full day motivational speaker on Saturday. They also are exploring presenting a speaker on special needs patients. Early registration will be available for the Misch course. Look out for registration notice for this full day course since seating will be limited. Glass Classroom, Product-Demo Classroom, the High-Tech Vendor Fair, onsite Café and the Cyber Pavilion that allowed the attending dentists to print their CE credits will all be present on the Exhibit floor. NJDA will continue to provide a hospitality suite for speakers, officers & trustees and invited guests. NJDA staff has come up with some exciting presale ideas to take this meeting to a whole new level.
Many fiscally conscious decisions have been made to cut down expenses. The Friday evening bon-fire will be a ticketed event with only $35 per person. It will be a family-friendly event from 7-8 PM. Ocean Place has a contingency plan in the event of rain. A "pre-Bon Fire" reception for VIPs and Council members has been planned. The Saturday evening President's event will be "upscale casual" with buffet style dinner followed by deserts and a night club party at the venue itself. NJDS would like to hold their officer installation and alumni reception at the show.
For dentists, the course fees were raised to $225 for a full day and $130 for a half-day. On-site course fees would be $25 more. NJDAA/HA will not be changing their course fees. Staff fees for staff enrichment series were discussed and finalized. Please mark your calendars and join us to honor and support Dr. Richard Kahn, our longtime member and the President of NJDA, at the all new Garden State Dental Conference and Expo at The Ocean Place Resort in Long Branch, NJ, on June 24-26, 2011. Bring your family and staff for a true Jersey Beach weekend this summer.
Dental Benefits-Jeff Chustckie
Starting January 1st, BCBS is accepting attachments alongwith the claim submissions online. Those practices who register through NEA for this service will receive $200 discount towards the setup fees from BCBS. A detailed report about the council on dental benefits meeting will be presented in the next month's newsletter.
Governmental Affairs-Mitch Weiner
-NJDA General Supervision Draft Legislation: Time is of the essence to move this forward due to the legislative calendar.
-Center for Oral Health Legislation: The Dean of the NJ Dental School would be made NJ Dental Director. The Center would go after federal monies for projects in NJ.
-New Dentist Tax Credit Legislation: $200,000 NJ Gross Income Tax deduction over 7 years (GP's or pediatric dentists) which would help out with loan repayment. This legislation is also targeted to help make new dentists aware of the impact of public policy legislation and 'bring them into the fold'.
-CRNA Legislation: NJDA is opposed. Amendments were put in that added dentists back into it. This would prevent OS from giving IV/general anesthesia in a hospital without a physician's supervision.
-Appointment Cancelling Charge Prohibition Bill: NJDA is opposed. Would place limits on dentists ability to charge patients for missed appointments.
-Division of Consumer Affairs Reform: Coalition of regulated professions to be placed under the jurisdiction of the lieutenant governor from the AG/Division of Consumer Affairs jurisdiction. 1 in 8-10 New Jerseyans are employed by a regulated profession. This should streamline things as the licensing board in Newark knows nothing about licensees as all of the information about the licensees is in Trenton.
-State Board Appointments: No word yet.
-Division of Taxation Issue (Denmat): Taxing for Lumineers (7% use tax) claiming that they have to withhold this from NJ Dentists because of the NJ Cosmetic Procedures' Tax. NJDA legal counsel disagrees. In addition, they are also charging tax on shipping which is clearly illegal. NJDA is on top of this.
-Health Care Transparency and Disclosure Act: There is NO mention of dentistry in this legislation due to NJDA's efforts.
-NJ needs dentists to run for state legislature positions. Of the three dentists that are current state legislators, one may be in his last term before retirement and one may face a challenge from a very well funded Dick Cody. We need to maintain our voice amongst the legislators in Trenton.
Peer Review-Sandy Goldstein
Two new cases were assigned to the committee and one case was successfully mediated since November 2010.
NJDPAC-Mark Vitale
All current legislation was reviewed. Please refer to the latest copy of The Advocate for a summary.
While PAC ended 2010 with membership slightly higher than the previous year, work is still needed in recruiting new members. In Middlesex County fewer than one quarter of MCDS members are members of PAC. Participation of younger members is greatly needed.
On an optimistic note, MCDS, while the 5th largest component in general membership, is first of all NJ components in amount contributed. When broken down based on dental school graduated from, FDU graduates contribute the most per member. Periodontists contribute the most of the specialists.
Committee Reports:
Corporate Sponsorship-David Stein
Thanks to the support from our sponsors, we have been able to organize some very good CE courses.
Mentor-Amit Vora/Nima MirMadjlessi
Our next 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 2, 2011 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. Dr. Larry Brent presented our last mentor program on December 9, 2010. He spoke about: "Everything I did not Learn in Dental School" at the NJDA Headquarters, North Brunswick. Three members were in attendance. Please see the insert in this newsletter for additional information and registration for the Mentor/OSHA program.
Continuing Education-Mark Schambra
Dr. John Ruel has been confirmed for the 2011-2012 CE year for Tuesday evening lecture and a full day course on Wednesday for October 2011.
Dental Hygiene Study Club-Alyssa Bernstein
The next CNJDH meeting will be on Wednesday January 12, 2011 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Edison. The speaker will be Dr. Tom Viola. He will be speaking on Pharmacology. Two CEU credits will be awarded for this seminar. This CNJDH study club is available to our hygienists as a Dentist-member benefit of MCDS. Please contact Marlene Glickman, our Executive Secretary for MCDS, at # 732-238-1255 for additional information and registration in advance for the program. Thank you. In addition the lecture on March 9, 2011 is open to both hygienist and dentists, Hahn Diagnostics is presenting on marker pathogen analysis for periodontitis. They will only present to the hygiene study club if there are at least 10 doctors present. Please consider attending this lecture. Thank you.
Old Business
Early results of the member responses to the survey were presented by Dr. Prabhu. Some of the salient features from the responses so far are as follows:
1. Nearly 60% of the respondents look to MCDS for their CE credits.
2. 63% would not be more likely to sign up for a MCDS CE course if it was presented as a webinar.
3. 68% of respondents preferred to attend full day courses as opposed to two half day courses.
4. 91% said that our fees for the CE courses were very reasonable and are a valuable member benefit.
New Business
The following slate of officers for 2010-2011 was presented and unanimously approved by the Board:
President-elect: Dr. Constantine Simos
Vice-President: Dr. David Stein
Secretary: Dr. Nainesh Desai
Treasurer: Dr. Alyssa Bernstein
Educational Coordinator: Dr. Devang Modi
------------------------------
Respectfully Submitted, Nainesh Desai, Secretary
| Back to the table of contents |
Dr. David Stein
December 31, 2010
| 12/31/09 | 10/31/10 | 12/31/10 | |
| Checking $ 1,162.97 | $14,297.99 $14,022.36 | ||
| Savings | $35,709.28 $35,913.04 $24,132.54 | ||
| PayPal $1,444.30 $ 2,328.50 $ 3,083.56 | |||
| TOTAL: | $38,316.55 | $52,539.53 | $41,238.56 |
| P&L STATEMENT CHECKING ACCOUNT | |||
| (11/1/10-12/31/10) | |||
| INCOME | |||
| CONT. EDUC.-INC | 2,135.00 | ||
| CORP SPON C. ED. | 8,850.00 | ||
| CORP SPON-MTNGS | 600 | ||
| DUES | 400 | ||
| INTEREST | 1.62 | ||
| MENTOR COMM-INC | 1075 | ||
| TOTAL INCOME | 13,061.62 | ||
| EXPENSES | |||
| CONT. EDUC-EXP LECTURE FEES | 7,433.86 | ||
| DINNER DANCE EXP | 135 | ||
| DINNER MEETING LECT. FEE | 500 | ||
| DINNER MEETINGS | 9,844.63 | ||
| DONATIONS | 3,400.00 | ||
| EXEC COMM DINNER | 727.22 | ||
| EXECUTIVE SECRETARY | 650 | ||
| MENTOR COMM-EXP | 491.32 | ||
| NEWSLETTER | 1,479.99 | ||
| OFFICE SUPPLIES | 102.19 | ||
| REFUND | 85 | ||
| REIMBURSEMENT | 290 | ||
| TRANSFER FROM SAVINGS | 11,801.96 | ||
| OVERALL TOTAL | -275.63 | ||
| P&L SAVINGS ACCOUNT | |||
| (11/1/10-12/31/10) | |||
| INTEREST INCOME | 21.46 | ||
| TRANSFER TO CHECKING | -11,801.96 | ||
| OVERALL TOTAL | -11,780.50 | ||
| P&L PAYPAL MONEY MARKET | |||
| (11/1/10-12/31/10) | |||
| CONT EDUC INC | 174.18 | ||
| MENTOR COMM-INC | 580.78 | ||
| OVERALL TOTAL | 754.96 | ||
| Back to the table of contents |
Correction
In the January 2011 newsletter, we incorrectly spelled Dr. Irvin Sherman's first name, "Irving." We appologize to Dr. Sherman for this mistake. The pdf archived version of the newsletter, as well as all associated files on our web site have been updated to reflect this correction.
MCDS CE Survey
The MCDS Board of Trustees would like input from the membership regarding our full day CE efforts. Please login to our web site (www.MCDSofNJ.org), go to the Members Only section, then Of Current Interest, and click on the link at the top of the page to take the survey, or follow this direct link