Suggested Solution

1.Determine the areas of oversupply and undersupply, the skills of the Dentist should not be wasted

  • Step I: A system needs to be set up that surveys all practices ( Members and Non Members of the NCDS) in each of the five districts of NCDS within each district each county and each county that has a metropolitan area would be a subset of the county. Sample survey form that will give the dental community current data on where future dental practices are needed and where they are not needed. Once the data is broken down by zip code each area can be given a rating as seen below.

(1)PPO's practice will need to join to attract patients which results in a 30-50% reduction in Practice compensation

  • Step II The rating of each area is then published for all parties Dental Schools to determine how many dentist to train, the state legislators to determine funding for dental schools (UNC SOD & ECS SOD), recent graduates to determine the best areas to open a practice that will be successful, dentist from other states that want to located in NC.

2. Curb the over treatment practices of dentists

3. The NCDS manpower committee must play an active role in determining how many dentist to train and regulating the number of dentist that the UNC SOD and ECU SOD produce. UNC needs to reduce the number of out of state dentist they accept in to specialty programs as this is a main contributor of the influx of out of state dentists. The enrollment of the dental schools needs to expand or contract as dictated by the needs in the community not by the needs of UNC or ECU to support faculty positions.

4. A whistle blower program needs to be set up that allows any dentist to report anonymously an abuse to the NCDS for peer review and then to the NC Dental Board.

5. Certificate of Need (CON) program needs to be set up that any dentist in the state who wants to expand or move must justify that the expansion or move will benefit the community and not create an oversupply of dentists in one area.

    • § 131E-175. Findings of fact.
    • The General Assembly of North Carolina makes the following findings:
    • (1) That the financing of health care, particularly the reimbursement of health services rendered by health service facilities, limits the effect of free market competition and government regulation is therefore necessary to control costs, utilization, and distribution of new health service facilities and the bed complements of these health service facilities.
    • (2) That the increasing cost of health care services offered through health service facilities threatens the health and welfare of the citizens of this State in that citizens need assurance of economical and readily available health care.
    • (3) That, if left to the market place to allocate health service facilities and health care services, geographical maldistribution of these facilities and services would occur and, further, less than equal access to all population groups, especially those that have traditionally been medically underserved, would result.
    • (3a) That access to health care services and health care facilities is critical to the welfare of rural North Carolinians, and to the continued viability of rural communities, and that the needs of rural North Carolinians should be considered in the certificate of need review process.
    • (4) That the proliferation of unnecessary health service facilities results in costly duplication and underuse of facilities, with the availability of excess capacity leading to unnecessary use of expensive resources and overutilization of health care services.
    • (5) Repealed by Session Laws 1987, c. 511, s. 1.
    • (6) That excess capacity of health service facilities places an enormous economic burden on the public who pay for the construction and operation of these facilities as patients, health insurance subscribers, health plan contributors, and taxpayers.
    • (7) That the general welfare and protection of lives, health, and property of the people of this State require that new institutional health services to be offered within this State be subject to review and evaluation as to need, cost of service, accessibility to services, quality of care, feasibility, and other criteria as determined by provisions of this Article or by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services pursuant to provisions of this Article prior to such services being offered or developed in order that only appropriate and needed institutional health services are made available in the area to be served.
    • (8) That because persons who have received exemptions under Section 11.9(a) of S.L. 2000-67, as amended, and under Section 11.69(b) of S.L. 1997-443, as amended by Section 12.16C(a) of S.L. 1998-212, and as amended by Section 1 of S.L. 1999-135, have had sufficient time to complete development plans and initiate construction of beds in adult care homes.
    • (9) That because with the enactment of this legislation, beds allowed under the exemptions noted above and pending development will count in the inventory of adult care home beds available to provide care to residents in the State Medical Facilities Plan.
    • (10) That because State and county expenditures provide support for nearly three-quarters of the residents in adult care homes through the State County Special Assistance program, and excess bed capacity increases costs per resident day, it is in the public interest to promote efficiencies in delivering care in those facilities by controlling and directing their growth in an effort to prevent underutilization and higher costs and provide appropriate geographical distribution.
    • (11) That physicians providing gastrointestinal endoscopy services in unlicensed settings should be given an opportunity to obtain a license to provide those services to ensure the safety of patients and the provision of quality care.
    • (12) That demand for gastrointestinal endoscopy services is increasing at a substantially faster rate than the general population given the procedure is recognized as a highly effective means to diagnose and prevent cancer. (1977, 2nd Sess., c. 1182, s. 2; 1981, c. 651, s. 1; 1983, c. 775, s. 1; 1987, c. 511, s. 1; 1993, c. 7, s. 1; 1997-443, s. 11A.118(a); 2001-234, s. 1; 2005-346, s. 5.)

6. Every dentist should have a chart / patient review done by peers to identify if satisfactory and appropriate care is being delivered.

7. Every Dentist regardless of their specialty must provided care to those who are unable to pay for dental care.