News

April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month, and dentists are the first line of defense in early detection of the disease. Oral cancers are newly diagnosed in about 132 individuals each day in the U.S., but when found at early stages of development, oral cancer patients have an 80 to 90 percent survival rate. “Creating awareness, discovery, ... [continue reading]

In today's world, you have to keep up with so much just to stay competitive. A business without a digital presence is at a disadvantage so, tough as it is, you must adapt to it. Otherwise, your practice is lost among the hundreds – if not thousands – out there that exist just in your area alone. It used to be that if you wanted to ... [continue reading]

In 2010, the Ohio General Assembly created the Oral Health Access Supervision Program (OHASP) designed to help increase access to a dental home for underserved populations. The OHASP allows dentists to send hygienists into certain designated locations like nursing homes, clinics and certain public schools under a new level of hygiene supervision. ... [continue reading]

March Madness is a community event co-sponsored by the OSU College of Nursing to engage the Near East Side neighborhood to address health disparities in their community.  The event was held on March 5 at the Eldon and Elsie Ward Family YMCA.  The event was a health expo that provided screenings for hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, ... [continue reading]

Opioid prescribing in Ohio continued to decline in 2015, according to a report from the State Board of Pharmacy’s Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System (OARRS).    In 2015, the total doses of opioids dispensed to Ohio patients decreased to 701 million from a high of 793 million in 2012, a drop of 11.6 percent.  The number of ... [continue reading]

The deadline to apply for the Ohio Dentist Loan Repayment Program is May 2. The ODLRP was created in 2003 and is fully funded by Ohio dentists. It provides loan repayment for dentists who practice in designated shortage areas, treat Medicaid patients and provide care to patients regardless of their ability to pay. Eligible candidates ... [continue reading]

Much has been made of Justice Antonin Scalia's recent death. Conservatives view his death as a great loss for America and the U.S. Supreme Court. Liberals view it as an opportunity to add another progressive voice to America’s highest court. Unquestionably, Scalia had a significant impact on American law over the last 30 years. It is unclear ... [continue reading]

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) and the Office of National Coordinator (ONC) recently released new guidance regarding patient access to medical information. The regulations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) protect the privacy and security of individuals’ identifiable health information and ... [continue reading]

The Ohio Dental Association has received a number calls recently from dental practices asking about the appropriate use of the adult prophylaxis (D1110), child prophylaxis (D1120) and periodontal maintenance (D4910) codes. In a nutshell, the answer to the questions is the dental practice must utilize the code that most accurately reflects the ... [continue reading]

We love order and predictability in life. People spend years working on predictions. Better predictions, better results. To achieve success, business gurus urge us to “skate where the puck is going to be.” We study what has happened in the past and work to understand the patterns. From these, we create models that are designed to ... [continue reading]