Defibrillators in Florida

The Florida Board of Dentistry has recently mandated a rule that requires each dentist to have an automated external defbrillator device on the premises. It's not clear if it must be in the actual dental office or in the building if the office is located in a structure occupied by several separate dental offices.

Are more states to follow?

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More Free Viagra

Another non-dental post: Not to be outdone by their neighbor, it has just been reported that New Jersey has been giving away Viagra to sex offenders courtesy of the medicaid program. Way to go. Now, does the state/federal government have any liability if a sex crime is committed by one of these individuals who are receiving this medication?

Next post: Back to Dentistry

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Angel of Death Legislation

The NJ legislature has recently passed the 'Nurse Cullen/Angel of Death " law. I goes into effect 10/29/05 and is designed to strengthen patient protection against healthcare professionals who have demonstrated impairment, incompetence or engaged in professional misconduct.

Each dentist will have to undergo a background check, at his/her expense and fingerprinting.

New Jersey renews every two years so this will impacts all dentists seeking renewal for Oct of this year.

In addition, health care professionals must notify the Direct of of consumer Affairs if they are aware about another health care professional presenting a danger to the public.

This opens up a myriad of questions involving liability for professionals, insurance carriers, multi-doctor offices, not to mention increased hassles for non-practicing dentists (retired, in another profession) who have no involvement with clinical work but just want to keep an active license.

Your thoughts?
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ADA Annual Session VS Greater New York Convention

The ADA's annual session will be held Thursday, October 6–Sunday, October 9, 2005 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

The Greater New York's Dental Convention at the Jacob Javitt's Convention Center is usually held at the beginning of December.

Many doctors attend the GNYC for both comradery with fellow dentists, continuing education courses and researching and stocking up on supplies and equipment, taking advantage of the substantial savings many vendors offer. But we're sure that the annual session will offer equally valuable discounts.

With the time proximity of the ADA's annual session we are curious about how it will impact attendence at the GNYC.

What are your thoughts?

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Disease Management and Dentistry

The latest issue of JADA, Journal of the American Dental Association, has two excellent articles dealing with dentists and their ability (and, I feel responsibility) to move beyond diagnosis of strictly oral pathology and assist other health care professionals in the detection of diseases that may not have primary impact in the mouth.

More articles are appearing discussing the dentists' role in diagnosis and treatment assistance in cardiac disorders, premature and low-weight births, diabetes and, of course, oral and pharygeal cancer.

The ADA has endorsed, by giving it a singular CDT code, the brush biopsy which will assist in diagnosis of oral lesions.

More insurance carriers are dedicating time and money to investigate the relationship of oral and systemic disease. Several Delta and Blue plans are aggressively using their claims data to examine the current "dental contract" and how it can be modified to provide maximum care to patients with minimum cost to the actual purchaser of dental insurance, the employer.

As this process grow, it will benefit our patients, our practices and the profession.

Great things are happening.

We ain't "just teeth".

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Survey of Patient Dental Insurance Coverage

The ADA Survey Center at survey@ada.org has just released statistics on patients who frequented general pratitioners in 2003.

64.2% had Private Dental Insurance

30.2% had No Insurance

5.6% had Public Assistance

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Viagra for Sex Offenders

This has absolutely nothing to do with dentistry but we found it amusing that New York State Medicaid is paying for Viatra for sex offenders. Ummmmmmmmmmm.... Is there something wrong here? Could this have something to do with Hillary Clinton being a NY Senator?

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What is in your patient charts?

Aside from the normal treatment information, are you including the following items in your patient charts:

1) Are procedures being initialed by the clinician who performs those procedures? (hygienist - dentist, etc)

2) Are you indicating the type and amount of local anesthesia (if any) being administered?

3) If an alternate treatment is discuss with the patient, is that being indicated in the chart along with the patient's initials indicating the he/she is aware of the financial implecations?

4) If a tooth requires a cast restoration, are you indicating why? (Example: Buccal cusp fractured). If you are subject to an audit or your treatment is questioned in the future, simple notes can job the memory as to the necessity.

If makes good sense to keep notes on this and more in the event of an audit or if you have to validate treatment for a 3rd party.

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Electronic Claims - EDI - Why Aren't You Doing It?

The ADA reports that approximately 90% of dental offices have computers but insurance companies are still receiving only 30 - 50 % of their claims electronically. PMS (Practice Management Software) is much more than colorful recording of periodontal pockets or reminding the Jones Family that they're due for their recall visits.

IT IS A TOOL THAT INCREASES CASH FLOW AND GUARANTEES ACCURATE CLAIM SUBMISSION WITH CONFIRMATION THAT THE CARRIER RECEIVED IT - WHAT MORE CAN YOU ASK FOR????

Some great sites to find out more are:

WebMD
NDEDIC

Each also has a calculator that allows you determine what savings you will see by submitting electronically.


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ADA studies payer's x-ray return policies

According to the ADA News, May 2, 2005, Volume 36, No. 9, the Council of Dental Theuraputics is studying the report that some insurance companies are not returning x-rays submitted by doctors. The suggestion is that an office should only submit those films required by a particular carrier for a particular procedure. This information can usually be obtained from their website or by calling their customer service department.

You can go to the ADA web site for more information.

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My claims for temporaries are not being paid

Temporaries are usually considered by insurance companies to be an inherent part of the permanent crown or fixed bridge. Separate benefits usually won't be allowed. There are some dental procedure codes for provisional crowns/fixed prosthesis but the language specifically states that they must serve as an interim restortion for at least 6 months and should not be used as for a routine temporary. Our suggestion is that if you haven't already, build any cost for a temporary into the fee for the permanent restoration.

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