Agenda - 04-15-2003-9a - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

As a point of reference, the average number of patients seen in one day of clinical service time is 30. The loss of 20 clinic days last year represents 600 patient visits and 390 patient visits in 2002-03. Not only does this negatively impact the dental health of the patients, but it also reduces the amount of revenue that the clinic is able to produce. As stated earlier, for several years, UNC School of Dentistry has subsidized the cost of providing dentist coverage for Orange County. Over the years, and particularly in the past two years, there has been steady erosion of that support. The School has indicated that as of July 1, 2003, due to on-going State budget cuts, it can no longer provide financial support to the Health Department for part-time faculty on an ongoing basis. This would result in an increase in the County's cost for a licensed dentist. In addition to the difficulties experienced with coverage by a licensed dentist, the Health Department has experienced a difficult time in recruiting and retaining a dental hygienist for the clinical practice. The hygienist position has been vacant since January 2002 - a period of more than 12 months. The Department has used services provided by temporary dental agencies and hygienist students to ensure that patients receive dental hygiene services. At times, patient appointments have been rescheduled because a hygienist was not available to provide services. Continuity of patient care to both children and adults has been difficult to maintain with these challenges. More often than not, children who receive clinical services require more than one visit in order to complete their care plan. Not having a consistent dentist can compromise the completion of the care plan in a timely way. The Board of Health recognizes that there is a pressing need for the Health Department to find a way to offer dental health continuity to patients. To that end, the Health Department Strategic Plan for 2001-04 identifies service continuity as a major goal. Proposed Realignment of Personnel and Budget Over the last few months, the Health Director has collaborated with Budget and Personnel staff to determine the "best fit" of personnel and budget to meet the goals of providing care for Orange County residents that have limited or no access to dental services. This realignment is being requested ahead of the regular budget process in order to recruit from the Dental School's Graduate Program Resident class scheduled to graduate in May 2003. As such, the Health Director, with the concurrence of the Board of Health, requests that the Board of County Commissioners: • Create a Dentist position to serve children and adult patients in both clinical locations and serve as clinical director and supervisor of the County's dental program. • Reduce the existing full time Dental Hygienist position to part time and use the cost savings to help fund the Dentist. • Maintain the current UNC School of Dentistry contracts for o Pediatric Resident one day per week for 35 weeks o Pediatric dentist for 17 days (remaining 17 weeks) for pediatric care of very young children