united states of america

Dental Care in Exchange for Community Service

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Interesting work out of the University of Michigan discusses the concept of getting dental care for free by performing community service. A master’s thesis by Lorene R. Kline titled “No Cost Dental Care in Exchange for Community Service Hours: Participating Patients’ and Dentists’ Responses” (2016) discusses this concept. The article is located over at https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/123017/Kline_MSDH_Thesis_%20Final_2016.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y The work discusses a program to help low income Michigan residents where adult participants were offered $25 in dental services for every hour of volunteer work. The program was titled Pay it Forward and was a partnership between Care Free Medical and Dental and the Central District Dental Society of Michigan. Pay It Forward was geared toward low-income adults who fell between 133% and 250%  of the poverty level and did not qualify for Medicaid. The cost was based on Medicaid schedule fees. The thesis work focused on … Read more

Influencing Government: Perspectives from U.S. Oral Surgeons

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As has been discussed before on this site and blog, The Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery is published on behalf of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS). They of course have their own interests and seek to help get candidates elected in government with positions favorable to theirs. This is described a bit in the article Influencing Your Government by James R. Hupp  appearing in the January 2015 issue of The Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (vol. 73, issue 1). The article discusses how voting in an election is only part of the story and advocacy stronger than one’s vote at the ballot box. The author states “Advocacy can take many forms. The one that comes to mind for most people is campaigning for someone running for office. Similarly, one can donate to a candidate’s … Read more

Unnecessary Medical Care and Over Used Tests: The Choosing Wisely Campaign

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The Choosing Wisely Campaign is an initiative which I believe I first heard about in late 2010 launched by the ACR (American College of Radiation as the Imaging Wisely Campaign) The Imagely Wisely Campaign was designed to have people aware of the fact that certain medical imaging tests such as CT exams were sometimes over used and did not always have to be used in some instances. It seems that the Choosing Wisely Campaign was launched by the ABIM Foundation which is an organization designed to advance medical professionalism to improve patient care. In April 2012 the Choosing Wisely Campaign released some lists of tests and procedures commonly done in 9 medical professions that should be questioned.  In February 2013 an additional 18 lists of tests or procedures were released. The press release is located at http://www.choosingwisely.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/021513_CW-Phase-II-Press-Release-FINAL.pdf On the website … Read more