Hygienist Oral Surgeons- Care for All March 26, 2008
Posted by Dentist.Com in -GEN. INFO, NEWS.Tags: -DENTAL, -Dental Hygiene, dentist, dentistry, General Dentistry, health, hygiene, Marketing, Miscellaneous, Online Health Records, oral health care news, Patient Blogs, Professional blogs
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Submitted by Darrell Pruitt, DDS
Did you know that Minnesota lawmakers are considering allowing hygienists to retrieve broken root tips that are almost in the sinus? Just about anything is better than nothing for the poor, right? Darrell
Your turn: Underserved deserve same care
By Dr. Mark Malterud, St. Paul
As lawmakers in St. Paul work on developing a sustainable, quality health care system available to all Minnesotans, we must remember that safe dental care is an important part of that equation.
Access to dental care is a challenge for many, especially those in rural and low-income areas. Many innovative solutions have been proposed to improve access to high quality care. However, whenever we evaluate new proposals we must first ensure that we do no harm to those patients who need care the most.
One proposal before the Legislature has raised strong concern from a wide variety of public health officials and dental professionals. The bill would allow dental hygienists to drill into teeth, cut gums and extract teeth without a dentist present or even on the premises. In addition to performing surgery, the hygienist would be allowed to prescribe drugs and independently make a final decision on the diagnosis of oral diseases without a dentist ever examining the patient.
All of these procedures, which require the oversight of a licensed dentist, would be granted to a hygienist with half the education of a dentist without an objective, third-party examination as is required of all other dental professionals for obtaining a license. (Read the rest of this entry)……
Privacy Shield Crucial for Online Health Records March 23, 2008
Posted by Dentist.Com in -GEN. INFO.Tags: -DENTAL, dentist, dentistry, General Dentistry, health, Marketing, Miscellaneous, Online Health Records, oral health care news, Patient Blogs, Professional blogs
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Medical Records in the New Era
By DEBORAH PEEL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial board was right when it said electronic medical records will save lives (“Medical records in the new era,” @issue March 3). But the board fails to realize that their use can ruin lives, too, unless both sensible privacy and security precautions are instilled upfront to protect patient privacy.
There is no magic “delete” button with electronic medical records. Safeguards have to be built in from the very beginning. Georgians have every right to demand of Gov. Sonny Perdue that those precautions be a prerequisite for participating in the Health and Human Services demonstration project for electronic medical records.
The problem regarding health privacy in the digital era is partly due to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Most Americans think HIPAA protects their health data. Wrong. Those Americans should read the fine print issued earlier in this decade by rule makers who, reversing the intent of Congress, eliminated the right of patient consent over how their data is used for treatment, payment or health care operations. What the rule makers did is negate the Hippocratic Oath, with its emphasis on
doctor-patient confidentiality, which has guided medicine for centuries.….. (Read the rest of this article)
Medical Identity Theft Turns Patients Into Victims March 22, 2008
Posted by Dentist.Com in NEWS.Tags: -DENTAL, dentist, Medical Identity Theft
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By Michelle Andrews
If identity thieves were to disregard your financial accounts and instead target your medical information, your first thought might well be, “Take my medical identity. Please.” What nut would want your high cholesterol, trick knee, and family history of Alzheimer’s? The answer is simple: one without health insurance who needs surgery or prescription drugs, or someone who sees a medical ID as the open sesame that will allow him or her to collect millions in false medical claims. These thieves don’t actually want your medical
ailments, of course, but by pretending to be you they can get what they’re really after. Untangling the mess is hard: Unlike financial identity theft, there’s no straightforward process for challenging false medical claims or correcting inaccurate medical records.
For victims, the result can be thousands in unpaid charges, damaged credit, and bogus, possibly dangerous details cluttering up their medical records for years to come.
Medical identity theft currently accounts for just 3 percent of identity theft crimes, or 249,000 of the estimated 8.3 million people who had their identities lifted in 2005, according to the Federal Trade Commission. But as the push toward electronic medical records gains momentum, privacy experts worry those numbers may grow substantially. They’re concerned that as doctors and hospitals switch from paper records to EMRs, as they’re called, it may become easier for people to gain unauthorized access to sensitive patient information on a large scale. In addition, Microsoft, Revolution Health, and, just this week, Google have announced they’re developing services that will allow consumers to store their health information online.
Electronic Health Records March 22, 2008
Posted by Dentist.Com in -GEN. INFO.Tags: -DENTAL, dentist, EHR's, Electronic Health Records
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by Darrell Pruitt, DDS
Did you know that the American Dental Association no longer advocates that member dentists adopt electronic health records? These days they are silent on the subject. I know. I am a member.
Long ago, the mandate called for the adoption of interoperable electronic records for all providers. Much attention has been focused on hospitals and physicians, yet one hears nothing at all about electronic health records for dentists. Is that not odd? One would think that dental patients’ interests would be better represented in Washington.
It appears to me that next year, a new president is going to wake up one morning thinking American healthcare has finally reached the tipping point in adoption of EHRs, only to discover that dentists’ practices have been left way, way behind.
For the time being, I think it is a blessing for Americans that dentists are not to be included in the nation’s EHR system. HIPAA is so absurd in dentistry. Not only is there nothing holding down the cost of being a covered entity, but the rule endangers Americans by taking control from patients and giving it to insurance executives – who are the only people pushing for EHR adoption in dentistry.
EHRs offer no benefit at all to dentists or dental patients. Only expensive danger.
Darrell Pruitt DDS
DEA amends Schedule II rule March 22, 2008
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DEA amends Schedule II rule
Washington—The Drug Enforcement Administration has begun allowing practitioners to provide patients with multiple prescriptions for specific Schedule II controlled substances written on the same date, to be filled sequentially.
This amends the previous DEA rule that required doctors to issue a new prescription each time they prescribed Schedule II controlled substances.
The rule published Nov. 19 in the Federal Register is titled “Issuance of Multiple Prescriptions for Schedule II Controlled Substances.”
For more information, visit the DEA’s Web site and reference Federal Register Notices Rules 2007.
New Prescription Pad Requirement in Effect April 1 March 22, 2008
Posted by Dentist.Com in -GEN. INFO.Tags: -DENTAL, CMS, controlled substances, dentist, drugs, medicaid, prescription
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CMS prescription pad requirement goes into effect April 1
American Dental Association
By Craig Palmer
Washington—As of April 1, 2008, all written prescriptions for Medicaid patients from dentists and other providers must be on tamper-resistant pads. This includes computer-generated prescriptions printed on paper inserted into a printer.
The Association and other professional organizations successfully urged delay of the anti-fraud and abuse requirement that was scheduled to take effect Oct. 1, 2007, to give members time to prepare. When the six-month moratorium expires, all hand-written Medicaid prescriptions must have at least one tamper-resistant feature to prevent copying, erasure or counterfeiting.
Some states require tamper-resistant prescriptions but many don’t. The impact will be minimal for dentists in states already requiring tamper-resistant pads, the Association says. Dentists in other states must use new pads from their dental supply firms for all Medicaid prescriptions beginning April 1. Your state dental executive, the state Medicaid directors Web site and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are among information sources.
A congressional “Dear Colleague” letter alerting members of the House of Representatives to the April 1 effective date says there is no national standard and that CMS deferred to the states the features they will accept for a prescription to be considered tamper-resistant. The letter cites points to educational materials at the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs Web site, which offers a question and answer format.
Q. Does this requirement pertain to prescriptions received by fax, telephone or electronically?
A. No. Since fax, telephone and electronic prescriptions are sent directly to the pharmacy, they are excluded from the new federal requirements. The direct communication from the prescribing doctor to the pharmacist is considered tamper-resistant.
Q. Does the tamper-resistant requirement apply to over-the-counter (OTC) products?
A. Yes. OTC products that require a prescription for reimbursement under Medicaid must be written on a tamper-resistant prescription paper.
The regulations require use of prescription pads with at least one security feature April 1 and three by Oct. 1, 2008.
Pacemaker Is Found Vulnerable to Hacker Attacks March 16, 2008
Posted by Dentist.Com in -GEN. INFO, NEWS.Tags: cardiologist, cardiology, defibrillators, heart, pacemaker
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Heart Device Found Vulnerable to Hacker Attacks
By BARNABY J. FEDER
Published: March 12, 2008
To the long list of objects vulnerable to attack by computer hackers, add the human heart.
The threat seems largely theoretical. But a team of computer security researchers plans to report Wednesday that it had been able to gain wireless access to a combination heart defibrillator and pacemaker.
They were able to reprogram it to shut down and to deliver jolts of electricity that would potentially be fatal — if the device had been in a person. In this case, the researcher were hacking into a device in a laboratory.
The researchers said they had also been able to glean personal patient data by eavesdropping on signals from the tiny wireless radio that Medtronic, the device’s maker, had embedded in the implant as a way to let doctors monitor and adjust it without surgery.
The report, to published at www.secure-medicine.org, makes clear that the hundreds of thousands of people in this country with implanted defibrillators or pacemakers to regulate their damaged hearts — they include Vice President Dick Cheney — have no need yet to fear hackers. The experiment required more than $30,000 worth of lab equipment and a sustained effort by a team of specialists from the University of Washington and the University of Massachusetts to interpret the data gathered from the implant’s signals. And the device the researchers tested, a combination defibrillator and pacemaker called the Maximo, was placed within two inches of the test gear.….. (Read the rest of this article)
Goodbye Polaroid- We’ll Miss You March 15, 2008
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Polaroid closing their remaining film factories
In early Feb., Polaroid announced that they were closing theirremaining film factories in Massachusetts, Mexico and theNetherlands. Polaroid will focus on products such as a portableprinter for cell phones as well as Polaroid-branded electronics.This move leaves Polaroid with 150 remaining employees – waydown from 1978 when they had almost 21,000 employeesglobally.
For those Dental offices that are still using the Polaroid Macro 5, try to stock 990 film for as long as you can get it. As the 990supply runs down, you can also use Spectra film which is sold inmost convenience and grocery stores (at least the ones that stillsell film).
When Polaroid film is no longer available for your Macro 5, takea look at our digital cameras. All of them will give you much betterquality photos and you can make 4″x6″ prints for roughly 1/3 the cost of Polaroid film.
Lead Might Be Lurking in Dental Work March 15, 2008
Posted by Dentist.Com in -GEN. INFO, NEWS.Tags: -DENTAL, dental crowns, dental laboratory, dentist, prosthetics
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Lead lurking in dental work?
BY LINDSEY SEAVERT
The Columbus Dispatch
Lead-tainted toys, jewelry and household goods have triggered massive recalls, public-health alerts and demands for more-stringent safety standards.
The simple remedy is to throw them away, but what if something containing questionable levels of lead is attached to your body?
An investigation by WBNS-TV (Channel 10) raises questions about the safety of dental crowns, or caps, which are cemented over teeth to improve their strength or appearance, at a cost of hundreds of dollars.
Working with a Columbus dentist, WBNS ordered eight supposedly identical dental crowns from four labs in China, the source of a growing number of dental implants used by U.S. dentists. The labs are regular advertisers in industry publications distributed in the United States.
A certified testing facility in Cleveland found that the porcelain veneer of one of the crowns contained lead — 210 parts per million. The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s safety threshold for surface coatings on items such as toys is 600 parts per million, but Congress is considering a new limit of 90 parts per million, the international standard.
The Toothbrush – The Most Important Instrument in Healthcare March 15, 2008
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The most important instrument in healthcare.
Submitted by Darrell Pruitt DDS
While one can easily find popular literature including specialty magazines about healthy diets and exercise, when was the last time you went out of your way to look for a story about tooth-brushing technique? Look no further. I brought it to you right here – perhaps uncomfortably close for some.
Increasingly, medical research is linking poor oral health to serious chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease. In fact, for people who suffer from diabetes, the disease increases one’s susceptibility to gum disease, while at the same time, gum disease worsens the diabetes. If you know someone with bad breath, risk a little embarrassment. Tactfully let the person know that their mouth smells unhealthy – especially if the friend or family member is frail. Love is courage.
Very few people give much thought to brushing technique, yet a simple toothbrush in the hands of someone who is paying attention is the most valuable invention there is for maintaining whole-body health.
I find it interesting that some people who exercise for an hour or so every day in order to keep fit spend only seconds brushing their teeth. Even though many patients are truthful when they volunteer that they brush twice a day, their inattention to the effort does not go unnoticed by dentists and hygienists. We see the results that tolerant friends and family only smell.
I know that for a professional to write this frankly about oral health issues perhaps makes some readers uncomfortable. I am quite sure that it makes a few of my colleagues uncomfortable as well, but because of traditional reasons. Nevertheless, I plow on because it is my opinion that around the turn of the century, we all grew up a little bit. Modern Internet communication tools such as this USN&W forum cause stilted conversation in a flat world to appear top-heavy and foolish. Today, I wish to offer a few common sense tips about techniques of cleaning one’s teeth that may make a difference in someone’s life. Maybe even someone you know.
….. (Read the rest of this article)
