Category: Opinion & Editorial

     Last month, the ODA Today featured a forum on the main issue in the case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, known to some as “Obamacare.” We featured competing columns discussing whether the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution authorized ... [continue reading]

     As many of you know, I read extensively outside of dentistry.  I try to see what is going on in the world of business and attempt to find parallels to the practice of dentistry.  Respected marketing guru Seth Godin was blogging recently about what he called “Information Density.”  From a ... [continue reading]

     “Lawyers spend a great deal of their time shoveling smoke.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841 - 1935) Actually, they’re not the only ones.      Ok, this month, for better or worse, I’m taking off the non-latex rubber gloves and putting on the legal, boxing ones. (And, as my ... [continue reading]

     During my professional career I’ve dealt with four, two by direct contact  while the other two were via seminars or they made contributions to this publication. Three had a ‘Patient First’ bias and one was fiscally focused. Three of the four I’ve mentioned in op-eds.      My ... [continue reading]

    “I’ll be shocked and disappointed and on the offensive. Unless something new arises from where we are today, it’ll be behavior (from me) you haven’t witnessed.”- Ohio State Director of Athletics Gene Smith stating what his reaction would be if the NCAA issued harsher penalties than what the ... [continue reading]

    Communication: (n) a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary)       It’s sometimes amazing how things happen in multiples.  We’ve all had two or three patients die or ... [continue reading]

     Dale Carnegie warned us that “when dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion.”  With each passing year, I become more aware of the truth of that observation.      The continuing efforts of the Kellogg Foundation and other ... [continue reading]

    The Supreme Court will soon decide whether the minimum coverage provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,  (cleverly called the “individual mandate” by critics), is constitutional. Under longstanding constitutional precedent, this requirement that everyone maintain a minimum amount of health ... [continue reading]

    On March 26-28, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the legal challenge to the 2010 federal health care reform law.  While the court will consider several issues related to the Affordable Care Act, the main challenge is to the individual mandate, which requires virtually every American to purchase health ... [continue reading]

     It may be true that it is easier to recruit a midlevel provider (MLP) to rural areas than a dentist. Some have even argued that “any treatment is better than no treatment.” According to National Public Radio on November 14, 2011,1 Julie Rovner reported “in medicine midlevel providers are filling in the ... [continue reading]