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- Feb 15, 2003
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- Attending Physician
- Dentist
This is only marginally related to dentistry (or maybe even not at all), but it still caught my interest. Reposted from DT.
~~~~
Better their profession than mine...or is it worse?
No Dentist Left Behind
My dentist is great! He sends me reminders so I don't forget checkups.
He uses the latest techniques based on research. He never hurts me,
and I've got all my teeth, so when I ran into him the other day, I was
eager to see if he'd heard about the new state program. I knew he'd
think it was great.
"Did you hear about the new state program to measure effectiveness
of dentists with their young patients?" I said.
" No," he said. He didn't seem too thrilled. "How will they do that?"
"It's quite simple," I said. "They will just count the number of cavities
each patient has at age 10, 14, and 18 and average that to determine a
dentist's rating. Dentists will be rated as Excellent, Good, Average,
Below average, and Unsatisfactory. That way parents will know which
are the best dentists. It will also encourage the less effective
dentists to get better. Poor dentists who don't improve could lose their
licenses to practice."
"That's terrible," he said.
"What? That's not a good attitude," I said. "Don't you think we should
try to improve children's dental health in this state?"
"Sure I do," he said, "but that's not a fair way to determine who is
practicing good dentistry."
"Why not?" I said. "It makes perfect sense to me."
"Well, it's so obvious," he said. "Don't you see that dentists don't all
work with the same clientele; so much depends on things we can't
control. For example, I work in a rural area with a high percentage of
patients from deprived homes, while some of my colleagues work in
upper middle class neighborhoods. Many of the parents I work with
don't bring their children to see me until there is some kind of
problem; I don't get to do much preventive work."
"Also," he said, "many of the parents I serve let their kids eat way too
much candy from an early age, unlike more educated parents who
understand the relationship between sugar and decay. To top it all off,"
he added, "so many of my clients have well water which is untreated
and has no fluoride in it. Do you have any idea how much difference
early use of fluoride can make?"
"It sounds like you're making excuses," I said. I couldn't believe my
dentist would be so defensive. He does a great job.
"I am not!" he said. "My best patients are as good as anyone's, my
work is as good as anyone's, but my average cavity count is going to
be higher than a lot of other dentists because I chose to work where I
am needed most."
"Don't get touchy," I said.
"Touchy?" he said. His face had turned red and from the way he was
clenching and unclenching his jaws, I was afraid he was going to
damage his teeth. "Try furious. In a system like this, I will end up
being rated average, below average, or worse. My more educated patients
who see these ratings may believe this so-called rating actually is a
measure of my ability and proficiency as a dentist. They may leave me,
and I'll be left with only the most needy patients. And my cavity
average score will get even worse. On top of that, how will I attract good
dental hygienists and other excellent dentists to my practice if it is
labeled below average?"
"I think you are overreacting," I said.
"'Complaining, excuse making and stonewalling won't improve dental
health'...I am quoting from a leading member of the DOC," I noted.
"What's the DOC?" he asked.
"It's the Dental Oversight Committee," I said, "a group made up of
mostly lay persons to make sure dentistry in this state gets improved."
"Spare me," he said, "I can't believe this. Reasonable people won't
buy it," he said hopefully.
The program sounded reasonable to me, so I asked, "How else would
you measure good dentistry?"
"Come watch me work," he said. "Observe my processes."
"That's too complicated and time consuming," I said. "Cavities are the bottom line, and you can't argue with the bottom line.
It's an absolute measure."
"That's what I'm afraid my parents and prospective patients will think.
This can't be happening," he said despairingly.
"Now, now," I said, "don't despair. The state will help you some."
"How?" he said.
"If you're rated poorly, they'll send a dentist who is rated excellent
to help straighten you out," I said brightly.
"You mean," he said, "they'll send a dentist with a wealthy clientele to
show me how to work on severe juvenile dental problems with which I
have probably had much more experience? Big help."
"There you go again," I said. "You aren't acting professionally at all."
"You don't get it," he said. "Doing this would be like grading schools
and teachers on an average score on a test of children's progress
without regard to influences outside the school, the home, the
community served and stuff like that. Why would they do something
so unfair to dentists? No one would ever think of doing that to schools."
~~~~
Better their profession than mine...or is it worse?
No Dentist Left Behind
My dentist is great! He sends me reminders so I don't forget checkups.
He uses the latest techniques based on research. He never hurts me,
and I've got all my teeth, so when I ran into him the other day, I was
eager to see if he'd heard about the new state program. I knew he'd
think it was great.
"Did you hear about the new state program to measure effectiveness
of dentists with their young patients?" I said.
" No," he said. He didn't seem too thrilled. "How will they do that?"
"It's quite simple," I said. "They will just count the number of cavities
each patient has at age 10, 14, and 18 and average that to determine a
dentist's rating. Dentists will be rated as Excellent, Good, Average,
Below average, and Unsatisfactory. That way parents will know which
are the best dentists. It will also encourage the less effective
dentists to get better. Poor dentists who don't improve could lose their
licenses to practice."
"That's terrible," he said.
"What? That's not a good attitude," I said. "Don't you think we should
try to improve children's dental health in this state?"
"Sure I do," he said, "but that's not a fair way to determine who is
practicing good dentistry."
"Why not?" I said. "It makes perfect sense to me."
"Well, it's so obvious," he said. "Don't you see that dentists don't all
work with the same clientele; so much depends on things we can't
control. For example, I work in a rural area with a high percentage of
patients from deprived homes, while some of my colleagues work in
upper middle class neighborhoods. Many of the parents I work with
don't bring their children to see me until there is some kind of
problem; I don't get to do much preventive work."
"Also," he said, "many of the parents I serve let their kids eat way too
much candy from an early age, unlike more educated parents who
understand the relationship between sugar and decay. To top it all off,"
he added, "so many of my clients have well water which is untreated
and has no fluoride in it. Do you have any idea how much difference
early use of fluoride can make?"
"It sounds like you're making excuses," I said. I couldn't believe my
dentist would be so defensive. He does a great job.
"I am not!" he said. "My best patients are as good as anyone's, my
work is as good as anyone's, but my average cavity count is going to
be higher than a lot of other dentists because I chose to work where I
am needed most."
"Don't get touchy," I said.
"Touchy?" he said. His face had turned red and from the way he was
clenching and unclenching his jaws, I was afraid he was going to
damage his teeth. "Try furious. In a system like this, I will end up
being rated average, below average, or worse. My more educated patients
who see these ratings may believe this so-called rating actually is a
measure of my ability and proficiency as a dentist. They may leave me,
and I'll be left with only the most needy patients. And my cavity
average score will get even worse. On top of that, how will I attract good
dental hygienists and other excellent dentists to my practice if it is
labeled below average?"
"I think you are overreacting," I said.
"'Complaining, excuse making and stonewalling won't improve dental
health'...I am quoting from a leading member of the DOC," I noted.
"What's the DOC?" he asked.
"It's the Dental Oversight Committee," I said, "a group made up of
mostly lay persons to make sure dentistry in this state gets improved."
"Spare me," he said, "I can't believe this. Reasonable people won't
buy it," he said hopefully.
The program sounded reasonable to me, so I asked, "How else would
you measure good dentistry?"
"Come watch me work," he said. "Observe my processes."
"That's too complicated and time consuming," I said. "Cavities are the bottom line, and you can't argue with the bottom line.
It's an absolute measure."
"That's what I'm afraid my parents and prospective patients will think.
This can't be happening," he said despairingly.
"Now, now," I said, "don't despair. The state will help you some."
"How?" he said.
"If you're rated poorly, they'll send a dentist who is rated excellent
to help straighten you out," I said brightly.
"You mean," he said, "they'll send a dentist with a wealthy clientele to
show me how to work on severe juvenile dental problems with which I
have probably had much more experience? Big help."
"There you go again," I said. "You aren't acting professionally at all."
"You don't get it," he said. "Doing this would be like grading schools
and teachers on an average score on a test of children's progress
without regard to influences outside the school, the home, the
community served and stuff like that. Why would they do something
so unfair to dentists? No one would ever think of doing that to schools."
) And inmy state, the CT Dental association successfully went after Anthem Blue Cross/ Bue Sheild so that any newly enrolling dentist could pick and choose what plans they'd sign up with, instead of automatically being enrolled will ALL PLANS(read as HMO's
)
