News — standard of care

Ask yourself the following questions. Does anyone other than the dentist ever: Prepare prescriptions for controlled substances for the dentist’s signature? Call or fax prescriptions to a pharmacy? Handle controlled substances for ordering, inventorying, shipping/receiving, and/or preparing for the dentist’s administration to a patient? Look up patient/caregiver drug histories in the Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP)? Look up the dentist’s prescribing history in the PMP? Transport controlled substances to a satellite office? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, your office should officially authorize the staff members who perform these functions to be in compliance with federal regulations regarding...

I put out a lot of TOP NOTCH compliance content from this blog to the podcast, "Talking with the ToothCop." I know a lot of you benefit from this content, but some of you might not know what we do....cause let's face it, writing blogs and yakking on a podcast, don't pay the bills. So here's a short synopsis of what we do for our clients and how we keep the lights on here at DCS.  1. Who do we work with at Dental Compliance Specialists? We work with dentists young and old. We work with small solo-dentist practices, dental group...

As healthcare practitioners, dentists may be the only doctor some of your patients may see. This is a great opportunity for you to connect with your patients about what's important to them. Written review of medical history, like treatment consent, can seldom be over-documented. This is another issue where state boards may differ.As a general rule, I suggest you and your staff update patient medical histories prior to performing any clinical procedure. This also applies to orthodontists, who often believe they are exempted because they don't perform invasive procedures. Keeping updated medical histories can help prevent terrible medical tragedies. Know your patients' health...

How often do you and your staff obtain a new written informed consent for treatment? State laws vary some, but let me throw this out there.... I frequently see dentists disciplined for not having signed consent when they should have had it. Conversely, I have never seen a dentist disciplined for having consent forms signed for every clinical procedure (or too many consents). When in doubt as to whether or not you need consent, err on the side of caution and get it!Some principles to remember about consent: Always get consent in writing Consent forms should give patients enough information to...