Thursday night at the LSC meeting there were presentations of two two different dental programs.
Currently LPS has a contract with FORSYTHE DENTAL for all elementary schools where they go in all the elementary schools and provide some services for eligible kids. This includes screenings cleangs, and temporary fillings.
Eligible the way I see it involves not only consent but they have to be able to BILL for the services they provide. MASSHEALTH and private insurance both for example allow for two cleanings a year. So therefore if the child sees a dentist regularly regardless who pays, they are deemed ineligible
The new kid on the block is POLISHED DENTAL PROGRAM and their proposal is as follows. They clean EVERYBODY'S teeth. Like FORSYTHE they put sealants whereever they can, but unlike FORSYTHE, they do the work first and see if they can bill later. If the child has a regular dentist so they can't really bill, the child walks away with a free cleaning and whatever. POLISH DENTAL stressed their main mission is prevention.
Both proposed expanding into the MIDDLE SCHOOLS and at least one high school. FORSYTHE came with a POWERPOINT display and a 9 year track record. POLISHED DENTAL had handouts for all the people at the table (I sit in the front row and still didn't get one).
HOWEVER....,
only FORSYTHE had a contract to be signed and it was only for the elementary schools. The LSC was maybe a little under the gun to sign or risk having a lapse in service for the elementary school kids. Wisely they tabled the contract to allow a little comparison shopping and see some CONCRETE proposals for the expansions.
ForsythKids is open to all students who wish to participate in the program and 38 percent of the children who participate are uninsured.
ReplyDeleteStanley, I work for Forsyth and would be happy to send you the presentation we gave and clear up mistakes in your post. First and foremost, there is no "elibility" All children whose parents sign them up can participate. We bill insurance to offset the costs of free care (as does the other program.) My email is jkelly@forsyth.org. If you contact me with your email I will send you our presentation and share the differences between the two programs. You can also learn more on our website: www.forsyth.org> We are a non-profit dental institute, ForsythKids is our community program which provides dental care in 39 locations as part of our founding mission to improve children's oral health.
ReplyDeleteThank you! This is why I put things out there so that answers can be found. I know I don't have the answers and I hate to type. By you posting what you did, the contact info is available to all. If you would like to type up something pointing out the differences between the two, I will gladly post it with proper credit. I will say a major difference I saw was you had an actual dentist present and not a hygienist. Also the level of services provided were higher.
DeleteI will say my post last year at Forsythe was one of my top 5 most visited post of all time and I've had a few posts.
ReplyDeleteDo any of these services cost Lynn schools money?
ReplyDeleteNo, neither. They both bill insurances or MASSHEALTH. Schools and kids pay nothing in both cases.
ReplyDeleteHi Stanley, I am happy to provide you with the packet that I provided to the school committee, and apologize if that was an oversight! I was honored to have the opportunity to present our program. We provide dental examinations by a licensed dentist and all care is provided by either a licensed dentist or public health dental hygienists. We are permitted by the DPH as a Permit M portable program and follow all of the Best Practice Guidelines as established by the American State and Territorial Directors, the recommnendations of Pew Charitable Trust and Center for Disease Control Guidelines. We are in over 100 locations, provide free care to approximately 40% of the children we see, via our non-profit and last year saw well over 3,000 children. Our program dentist was in the audience, but since dental hygienists are the prevention specialists, I elected to speak. If you are going to publish a side by side comparison, I would love the opportunity to view prior to its release, since I know Polished's program inside and out! Please contact me with your email address and I can forward all of the information. Ellen D. Gould RDH MPA gould.ellen@gmail. Also, I am happy to discuss this program with any of your readers!
ReplyDelete