AOS MEMBERSHIP NEWS Legislators Listening To Practitioner’s Concerns Of Insurance Issues Until this week, I would have said, “of course not.” April 11 and 12 found Tom Chapman and myself walking the halls of the U.S. Senate and House Office buildings and visiting five Sena-Chris Baker, RN, DMD tors and Representatives’ offices. AOS President WOW! I was privileged as your President to be invited by the Academy of General Dentistry to represent the AOS at the annual AGD Legislative Confer-ence. The two-day conference’s first day was our training in how to be a lobbyist. (They say the term “lobbyist” evolved from the days when Washington lawmakers stayed at the Willard Hotel and would meet with interested constituents in the hotel lobby to discuss concerns and interests.) We had lectures and role-playing exercises to help us be ready to do our jobs as lobbyists. There were three primary issues to discuss with our lawmakers – first, the topic of insurance companies capping uncovered fees in plans. We wanted to let the legislators know that when we participate with a dental plan in our community and the insurance company caps fees that are not even covered by their plan, that is both a hardship for our businesses, and a hardship for the patients who may have to find another provider who does not participate, and who will provide the service at a reasonable fee. The second topic was that of insurance companies not having to follow anti-trust laws, so that they can share medical and financial information with each other as well as fee-setting and other practices. This exemption for insurance companies allowing that they do not have to follow anti-trust laws as do we and all other businesses, dates back to the 1940s when the McCarron-Ferguson Act provided the fledging (can you imagine!) insurance compa-nies the exemption. Our lobbying requested that the lawmakers work to repeal this exemption. Also, the issue of independent dental mid-level providers was discussed. Minnesota has just graduated their first class of independent mid-level providers who have been “trained” and may now start their practice in dentistry to perform dental care -restorative, oral surgery, extractions and other services -without the onsite oversight of a dentist. We could only imagine a high-speed handpiece going at hundreds of thousands of revolutions per minute in these young people’s hands, after one year’s training past high school, and the challenge of a simple extraction-turned-complex with no one to help? And, in the New Zealand and Alaska models of these programs, the providers trained to cover the underserved areas start moving into the urban areas where there is more possible patient population. In fact, we learned at our conference that the New Zealand program has been closed. At the end of the second day, we had experienced great meetings with our lawmakers and dentist colleagues, had a very quick lunch in the Congress cafeteria, and even had watched the Senate at work. With the incredible Greco-Roman architecture of Washington DC as our backdrop, we found our way from the Senate Building to two different Congressional office buildings and to the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Whew! What an amazing day Tom and I had! I am grateful for the hundreds of marble steps we climbed, the Capital buildings’ basement tunnels and halls full of people scurrying to and fro, and the gracious and welcoming legislators and their staffs, all living a storybook life in many ways. (It’s a different world from dental practice – that’s for sure!) I am grateful to have a renewed sense of the importance of our votes, the opportunity to carry the needs and interests of our membership to the lawmakers, who need to hear how hard we work, how small are our margins, and how impor-tant our small businesses – our practices – are to our home-land’s small and large communities. I am grateful to once again experience Washington DC, greeting quartets of dress-uniformed Air Force Generals and staffs, Navy captains, and feeling the awe and goosebumps at these ordinary folks who give extraordinary service to our country. I am grateful to have exited the various commanding buildings and seen the sunshine bathing the architectural landscape of our capital. And I am grateful to have represented you. I took our great organization – your AOS – to Washington! Thank you. Chris Baker, RN, DMD Nominations Wanted for Open Board Positions Names are now being accepted for individuals you would like to place in nomination to serve as a Director on the Board of the American Orthodontic Society. Elections will be held at this year’s Annual Meeting in Atlanta, September 29-October 2. The individual must have been a member in good standing of the AOS for five consecutive years and have at least 50 hours of AOS-sponsored continuing education credit. The deadline for submission is July 15, 2011. Please fax this form to (800) 871-9924. Name of Nominee __________________________________________________________________________________ Individual Making Recommendation _____________________________________________________________ Date ______________ Phone/Email: ______________________________________________________________ www.orthodontics.com May/June 2011 45
Journal of the American Orthodontic Society May-June 2011: Page 45
