FROM THE ODA PRESIDENT
A Final Message
Thank you for allowing me to be your president. Your support has been exceptional and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to serve.
Wow! Where did the year go? It seems like just yesterday I was receiving the ODA President’s pin from Tim Fagan. And now, next month I’ll be passing the pin to Lindsay Smith. It’s been an honor to serve as your president this past year and I thank all of you for the tremendous support you’ve given me.
To past presidents Doug Auld, Todd Bridges and Tim Fagan: Tank you for your guidance and leadership as I served as your secretary/treasurer, vice president and president-elect, respectively. To our current Executive Committee (Past- President Tim Fagan, President-elect Lindsay Smith, Vice President Ed Braly, Secretary/Treasurer Juan Lopez, and Speaker of the House Krista Jones): Tank you for all your support and for being part of a unified leadership voice. You guys are great! And to our ODA Executive Director, Lynn Means, and her staff (Shelly Frantz, Jerrell Welch, Tina Evans, Britney Morris, Chelsea Canada, Kylie Ethridge and Tori Dennis): Tank you for your wonderful support and assistance, and for always being there and keeping me on the right track!
Your association has been extremely active this past year. As you know, the ODA uses a three-year strategic plan as guidance and direction to manage those ever-changing and revolving issues important to you, our members. Last June, ODA leaders
4 journal | March/April 2015
and members met to develop a new strategic plan to be implemented following approval by the House of Delegates. And I again want to thank all the members who participated in developing the new Plan!
Tis year may be the most politically involved year we have seen in recent history. Te Executive Committee and our Governmental Affairs Chairman, Doug Auld, have been extremely active keeping abreast of these issues on your behalf.
Last November, a special session of the House of Delegates was convened to address a revised dental practice act, which incorporated the combined efforts of nine committees comprised of members from the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry, the ODA, the ODHA and the ODAA. Aſter much discussion and many modifications, the House of Delegates voted overwhelmingly to support the revised practice act. Te Oklahoma State Dental Act Reform Bill (SB781) has been presented to the Legislature and will be discussed and voted upon during this legislative session.
As discussed in previous issues of the ODA Journal, many dental providers to the state Medicaid program have gone through extremely unfair and unreasonable quality audits resulting in severe fines (almost one million dollars in one particular case). Tese audits have been conducted by
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