FROM YOUR PDA PRESIDENT-ELECT
forums and member-to-member outreach. It will enhance
PDA communication with our members and make it simpler to
access PDA resources.
Our Government Relations Committee (GRC) has been hard
at work. Last year we were very close to passing Assignment
of Benefits legislation. The GRC has committed to reviving
that legislation this year and will also support a student loan
financing bill aimed at keeping Pennsylvania residents from PA
dental schools in the state, while at the same time helping to
provide care in qualified dental shortage areas. In addition they
are monitoring telemedicine legislation. Please pay attention
to emails from PDA asking you to contact your legislator about
upcoming legislation.
A personal visit to your state representative or senate member
in their home office is a great way to connect with them, and
our PDA staff will give you talking points in support of your
visit. Another way is a simple phone call to their office. I have
been told by Sen. Pat Browne’s staff that emails - especially blast
Your PDA Board of Trustees (BOT) has made significant strides
emails - are often ignored due to the sheer volume of emails
over the past four years as we transitioned from a House of
received in a legislator’s offices. So a face-to-face meeting or
Delegates governance system to one that is driven by the board your voice over the phone is an effective method to move our
with input from the Council of Presidents. Many governance
legislation forward. In addition, we need financial support
issues were not addressed by the final House of Delegates, and from our members in the way of contributions to PADPAC.
initially the board took on the task of resolving those policies
Supporting legislators who support our position is key to
and procedures.
passing our legislation, no matter their political party.
Dr. Charles J. Incalcaterra
Over the past two years our focus has shifted to member
benefits. Having said that, we are now looking into the
geographic distribution of our members and how any further
changes in our current system can enhance membership
growth and retention. A deep dive into our statewide
distribution of members is underway, guided by our ADA
membership liaisons. We expect the results of their work to be
shared with the board this summer.
We continue to focus more and more on benefits for our members
and the public rather than the mundane tasks of governance.
One of the most significant benefits is the PDA Buyer’s Club,
an idea submitted by incoming President-elect Dr. Jim
Tauberg and implemented last summer. PDA members are
realizing significant savings on dental supplies over some of
the major supply houses, and a small portion of those sales
comes back to the PDA as non-dues income. We expect that
online continuing education (CE) for state-mandated required
courses will be available shortly. Our Membership Committee
has approved a mobile app that will be available soon to help
members more easily connect with PDA. This app will allow
for CE registration, posting of practice management resources,
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Access to care is another hot topic in Pennsylvania. The Morning
Call newspaper recently ran a series of articles about this problem
by following individuals and families as they attempted to
access dental, medical, addiction, and mental health care. PDA
has been at the table with the PA Coalition on Oral Health to
increase access to care, but there are forces out there pointing
their fingers at organized dentistry for the lack of any solution
to this problem. Our support for community water fluoridation,
MOM-n-PA Dental Missions, Dental Lifeline Network, Give Kids
A Smile and Student Loan Forgiveness are just a few of the
many examples of our support for better access to care for the
underserved. In addition, some local societies have supported
programs for our vulnerable military veterans. We must do a
better job of communicating these efforts to the public.
We need to have a serious, comprehensive conversation about
Dental Health Aid Therapists (DHATs) in Pennsylvania. Pew
Research and the Kellogg Foundation are pushing this method
of dental care delivery in many states throughout the nation as
an answer to the access to care issue. They say that this model
is similar to nurse practitioners and other advanced practice
clinicians. Some states have been successful in blocking these
practitioners but others have not.