Keep your eye out for the ODA member survey
The ODA regularly surveys its members. If you have ever attended an ODA event – whether it is the Leadership Institute, Day at the Statehouse, or Annual Session – chances are you received a survey from us following the event. If you participated in a specific ODA program or utilized an ODA-endorsed product, we likely sent you an electronic survey to see how your experience with that program or product was. We conduct these surveys to get feedback on those events, programs or products so we can continuously monitor and improve them.
Similarly, every few years, the ODA conducts a broad membership survey. These surveys, which were conducted in 1988, 1991, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2007 and 2012, provide valuable information on almost everything the ODA does. The feedback we get on ODA’s lobbying efforts, communications, continuing education offerings, programs and events gives us valuable information to ensure we are meeting the needs of our members. We will be conducting our latest broad membership survey later this month. This is your chance to have input on the ODA’s priorities.
We also gain information on various products and services including the ODA’s workers’ compensation group rating program (Care Works Comp), our endorsed professional liability insurance product (Medical Protective), patient financing (Care Credit), and health insurance (ODA Wellness Trust). This again allows us to monitor our programs and ensure we are meeting the needs of our members.
The survey also allows us to track practice trends to gauge over time how our members practice habits are changing. We track whether dentists are as busy as they have been in the past, what types of dental insurance programs our members are participating in, if any, and what percentage of our members are practice owners vs. employees.
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, these surveys were cumbersome as we would send the paper survey document in the mail and ask members to fill them out and then mail them back to us. Today, surveys are much easier to conduct because of technology. We now send an email with the link to the survey that can be completed online at your convenience.
Because we cover a significant amount of information, the survey may take you several minutes to complete. However, the information we gain is absolutely critical to allowing the ODA to continue to meet your needs and to be able to continue to effectively advocate for the dental profession. All individual survey results are kept confidential to ensure we get unbiased feedback. Please take the time to fill out the ODA survey when it arrives in your in-box. You’ll also have an opportunity to be entered into a drawing to win one of five $100 Amazon gift cards for completing the survey. And keep your eyes on future issues of the “ODA Today” as we will share the aggregate data from the survey results once they are compiled and discuss what that information may mean for you, the dental profession and the ODA.