MAKING YOUR PRACTICE EASIER TO MANAGE

-NEWS patient relations, infection control, clinical issues and more. It also serves as a source for continuing education credit for dental office personnel, through its own monthly Continuing Education Program. MAKING YOUR PRACTICE EASIER TO MANAGE

The Association offers a variety of services, products and survey data that can help you make wise decisions in managing your practice and providing patient care. - Last year, the Division of Legal Affairs' Contract Analysis Service analyzed 431 dental provider contracts free of charge for ADA members seeking the service through their constituent and component dental societies. - Given the changing dental market, the ADA Council on Dental Practice produced and the Department of Salable Materials is marketing an information kit to help dentists deal with the many facets of managed care. The packet includes three resources designed to help dentists evaluate for themselves the pros and cons of managed care plans. I Financial Impact Analysis of Plan Contracts is a computer spreadsheet model that can help you estimate the range of financial effects that various plans may have on your practice and allows you to run unlimited "what-if" scenarios to help you consider how a plan may affect your practice. I For dentists who prefer books to software, the Council

developed a text to help explain various financial and legal implications of managed care. 32 JADA, Vol. 127, January 1996

I Salable Materials also markets a Managed Care Resource Packet to complement the software and the book. The packet includes legal and antitrust information, sample contracts and a glossary of managed care terminology. - The Council on Dental Benefit Programs also produced the second edition of the ADA's Current Dental Terminology, or CDT-2, in 1995. This comprehensive listing of procedure codes, nomenclature and descriptors includes 44 new and 32 revised codes to make claims processing uniform and accurate. - The Department of Dental Informatics also was hard at work in 1995, making filing dental claims as easy as hitting a button on your computer. Thanks to its seats on committees of the American National Standards Institute and the work group on Electronic Data Interchange, the department was able to gather information on standardizing the data requirements of dental claims and published that information in an implementation guide. The future holds not only electronic health care claims, but also automation of all health care data. The department-has coordinated the development of standardized terms and codes for use in an electronic environment, such as a computer-based oral health record. - The Department of Dental Informatics also has begun work on an aggregate database of diagnostic terms. The database should prove to be a valuable resource in research and in designing both dental school curricula and dental benefit plans. The ADA Survey Center is dentistry's central national sta-

tistical resource. Through its efforts, the Center has been able to identify and follow trends within the profession. - Survey of Dental Practice is an annual series that provides reliable statistical information on the private practice of dentistry in the United States. Reports help gauge the relative economic health of dentistry and identify issues relevant to dentists. - In 1995, the Survey Center updated Facts About States: For the Dentist Seeking a Location, a popular publication for new and experienced dentists. This publication contains data from the Distribution of Dentists by Region and State. It outlines state income tax rates, state licensure requirements and other information about particular states or regions of the United States. - Dental Practice and Economic Trends presents monthly information on the economics of private dental practice and the state of the national economy. Topics included in this report are patient visits, fees charged, staff salaries and dental supply expenses. IMPROVING DENTISTRY'S PUBLIC IMAGE

Bringing the good news of modem dentistry to the public is one of the ADA's major responsibilities. Through advertising campaigns, educational brochures, public service projects and other activities, the ADA does its part to advance dentistry's positive message-not only in the United States, but around the world. - In 1993, a consumer poll showed the public was unsure about infection control safety in the dental office. Association Communications staff rose to