VOHC Recruitment Subcommittee Draft Minutes for November 29, 2016
Members: Chuck Seleen, Jenny Pitz, Susan Rand, TracyTowers, and Senada Sokocevic.
The meeting started @ 3:05 pm and all members were present in person or through the conference call line. Jenny Pitz presented a summary of the VSDS recruitment efforts under her direction. Jenny replaced Colleen Stafford over a year ago and in the last 18 months the state has gained 25-26 new dentists. In her recruiting efforts Jenny travels to many DentalSchools and Residency Programs throughout the Northeastern US. Jenny is the resource for all interested parties to coordinate recruitment efforts. Most recruitment candidates state that debt is a big concern with student debt loads reaching $250-500K in many instances. Their first concern is to gain employment to pay down their debt and not immediately think about purchasing a practice. Jenny will be traveling to UNE School of Dental Medicine on December 14th for a Lunch and Learn program with the first graduating class from this new dental school. Currently the estimate is that between 4-7 students have an interest in locating in Vermont. Recruitment kicks off in earnest starting in January with another Job Fair @ UNE and 3 days @ Yankee Dental Congress. There can be 5-6 serious candidates interested in Vermont that indicate their intentions to locate in Vermont @ YDC. The pool of available positions is comprised of various private practitioners and FQHC’s. Later events take place at a career day in March @ Tufts and April @ Buffalo. Recently there has been a keen interest in Vermont generated by Buffalo graduates. Of particular note is a specialty practice career day @ BU . Jenny pointed out that with Vermont’s aging dentist population both general practitioners and specialists need to be recruited. For any additional information or assistace please contact Jenny directly @ VSDS 802-864-0115; .
The next order of business was a discussion of the shortage of oral surgery services to Medicaid patients in Windham county. Susan Rand articulated the dire need and there was a discussion of current efforts. The dental community in the area is collaborating on finding space, providers, and coordination. Dr. Bob Ruhl is coordinating the efforts. Many other dentists are contributing such as Dr. Neumeister and Dr. Radiske. Some stumbling blocks are liability insurance concerns and proper reimbursement for services and space. Hopefully there will be more to report in January.
The next agenda item was a discussion on the dynamics of the loan forgiveness program and recruitment. Some private practices are concerned about matching the loan amount award. Setting a salary and including the expense of a match while treating a high percentage mix of Medicaid patients is very difficult. Also the FQHC’s are being awarded a significant portion of available funds. They also have a Federal program available to their candidates, can more easily provide matching funds and get an enhanced Medicaid fee reimbursement. This disadvantage is critical in Windham county where there is no FQHC, so loan forgiveness there is difficult to arrange.
The meeting concluded with a presentation by TracyTowers and Senada Sokocevic, who are currently enrolled in a one year Community Dental Health Coordinator educational training program. Susan Rand indicated that the district hygienists already possess many of these job skills and to find dental services and dental homes for patients in need. The training that CDHC’s receive could prepare them to make the connect between population groups and individuals in the community that need care and a stable dental home. Besides the current state dental hygienists this CDHC training could be beneficial to future hires for state hygienists. In the private sector the best two possible employment models would be for a CDHC to work clinically part time and in the community part time in one practice or full time serving the needs of a number of dental practices. It should be noted that this positions prerequisite is either an RDH or CDA with previous clinical experience.
The members planned the next meeting for January 10th from 3-4PM @ VDC, 32B Malletts Bay Ave. , Winooski. The phone conference line is as follows:
Call in # 1-877-273-4202
Guest passcode: 7150200
The tentative Agenda will be as follows:
- Oral Surgery access in Windham county update—Susan Rand
- Dentist Recruitment—Jenny Pitz
III. Set priorities, goals, and timeline for subcommittee actions