The Leading Business Education Network for Doctors, Financial Advisors and Health Industry Consultants

Queries for the ADA Member Service Center

9 Responses

1. Darrell, on April 18, 2010 at 11:47 AM said:

   Follow-up

   Recently, I still held hope that I had turned a corner in my struggle for honesty in the ADA, a non-profit organization supported by my dues.

   So, I said, “I think my personal goals will be better served if I send the ADA Member Service Center only one or two questions at a time. I can only imagine how stressful sudden transparency can be for such a huge, traditionally obscure organization like the ADA. I fear if I’m not careful, I could overwhelm the leaders – causing them to hunker down even farther. That won’t help at all.”

   http://community.pennwelldentalgroup.com/forum/topics/third-question-to-ada-will-be

   I’m afraid I wasn’t gentle enough. It looks a lot like the ADA hunkered down again. I was warned by a couple of readers that the ADA wasn’t through evading me. I confidently told them they were wrong. Perhaps it was I who is wrong … again.

   Why shouldn’t I have been even more optimistic this time than ever before? Here is what the ADA promises membership:

   “Whether it’s a resource or service you need to track down or a question you have about your practice, the profession, your ADA number or password, the ADA Member Service Center advisors are available to help you. Call the toll-free number on your member card Monday through Friday between 8:30 am and 5:00 pm CST, Fax at: 312-440-3542, or Email us: mscpassword@ada.org .”

   What possible excuse can the ADA give for not emailing me an answer within hours? I promise I will show you that the ADA’s excuse for silence is industrial lame. It simply has to be. Everyone knows the answers to both questions, and the truth doesn’t look good at all for those in power. I still look forward to the day when I can share with you the ADA’s admission that the organization failed to adequately represent dental patients’ interests for almost a decade.

   1. If a dentist follows ADA recommendations and signs up for CareCredit, will that contract be enough to cause the practice to be a Red Flags Rule covered entity? Regardless of the ADA’s silence on the issue, you better believe it. Why does the ADA not want to admit it? Conflict of interest.

   2. And why do ADA leaders refuse to discuss policy with ADA members? Same reason.

   D. Kellus Pruitt; DDS

   LikeLike
2. Dr. Pruitt, on April 19, 2010 at 9:11 PM said:

   Do ADA leaders evade ADA members as policy? – Or did they pick up bad manners growing up?

   It has been a week since I asked an anonymous employee at the ADA Member Service Center two straightforward yes or no questions about the FTC’s Red Flags Rule and the recently opened ADA.org Website. I consider a week to be sufficient time for a non-profit service organization to respond to a dues-paying member. So I sent a follow up this morning:

   ——————————————————————————–

   From: pruittdarrell [mailto:pruittdarrell@sbcglobal.net]
   Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 10:27 AM
   To: ‘mscpassword@ada.org’
   Subject: A member’s questions follow-up

   Dear ADA Member Service Center

   A week ago, responding to your offer to forward ADA members’ questions to the appropriate departments, I submitted the following two questions:

   Question 1 – The FTC’s Red Flags Rule is due to be enforced on June 10. If the Rule is not delayed for a fifth time and a dentist has a contractual relationship with CareCredit/GE or similar healthcare financing service, will that mean he or she will become a covered entity obligated to additional paperwork, liability and expense?

   Question 2 – Am I correct to assume that soon the ADA.org Website will include the capability for direct discussions between members and leadership?

   Since I have not heard from anyone, I am following up with this email. Please reply.

   Sincerely,

   D. Kellus Pruitt; DDS

   —————————

   It is my understanding that in return for dues, the non-profit American Dental Association is dedicated to serving ADA members and their patients. I have to say that I get better service from government officials than I get from my own professional organization.

   For example, a couple of years ago when Michael Leavitt was HHS Secretary, he allowed four out of four of my critical comments to be posted on his blog within hours. Does the ADA invite discussion of controversial topics? Are you kidding? They may say they’re interested in members’ ideas just because it’s cool to use buzzwords. But at this very moment, ADA leadership is silently scrambling to avoid long overdue transparency – the most painful kind.

   Of course, I only pay the ADA around a grand a year for representation while I pay the US government much, much more for reasons that go beyond freedom of speech. If I want to continue to be an American who enjoys all the rights that come with citizenship, yet I quit paying taxes, I’ll go to jail. But if I quit paying ADA dues and am kicked out of the organization, it will hardly impact my life at all because I am an American who pays taxes.

   I might actually save a little money and even if I’m kicked out of the ADA, it won’t shame my family, and my patients won’t be able to tell the difference at all.

   But like everything these days, giving in to policy “for the common good” is not without its less obvious consequences. My patients who depend on me will lose their only representative in the ADA – which in turn represents their interests before the US government. If one would like to read my opinion of how poorly the ADA represents dental patients’ interests when control of the organization is left in the hands of stakeholders rather than principals, see “HIPAA and Dentistry,” Jan. 8, 2009

   HIPAA and Dentistry

   I don’t think I’m being unreasonable to expect to have received a response by now to both questions I sent to the Member Service Center. I actually started emailing the CareCredit question to the ADA almost a year ago – about the time another ADABEI business venture called ADA/IDM tanked. I warned the ADA about that bad idea 6 months earlier. (See “Time is up, Intelligent Dental Marketing,” Nov. 28, 2008)

   http://community.pennwelldentalgroup.com/forum/topics/time-is-up-intelligent-dental

   The ADA/IDM continuing education in modern business cost ADA members an unreported amount of reserves in addition to eroding confidence in the organization. Yet here we are months later and it doesn’t look like the ADABEI promises to be any more transparent about the approaching cost of CareCredit/GE to membership. Even though our leaders who are entrusted with our profession appear to be vulnerable marks for any and all big-named stakeholders like GE, Delta Dental and even Newt Gingrich, one cannot argue that dental leaders as a general rule have damn good-looking teeth. “Image is everything” was the slogan for the failed ADA/IDM.

   As for my second question which simply requests more modern communications between members and leaders than phone calls, faxes and the US Mail, it’s hard for me to understand the purpose of the ADA’s evasion. If an unopened interactive application for ADA.org is on its way, as many members hope it is, great. Sorry for questioning you, ADA Communications Director, but even after you were given a year and a half to do nothing more than build a Website, you are incredibly late. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to using it. When will it open?

   If an interactive app is still an undetermined option in the Website, I have to ask, when did it first occur to someone to consider it? This week?

   And if the ADA still has no intention of becoming transparent to membership, just step back and leave it to me. They’ll change their minds – even if it means holding shy people personally accountable again by naming names and improving their Search Engine Optimization.

   I wonder if anyone even noticed how professional I’ve been for the last week or so. Like all 12 step programs, it’s a struggle long after the embarrassing intervention with all the cars in the driveway and stuff.

   D. Kellus Pruitt; DDS

   LikeLike
3. Dr. Pruitt, on April 26, 2010 at 6:52 PM said:

   Who provides better service – Wal-mart or the ADA?

   “One of the most valued benefits of ADA membership is the personal service you receive just by calling the Member Service Center (MSC). Whether it’s a resource or service you need to track down or a question you have about your practice, the profession, your ADA number or password, the ADA Member Service Center advisors are available to help you.”

   – Member Service Center (member-only call center)

   http://www.ada.org/701.aspx

   This is my 4th attempt in 3 weeks to obtain answers to two straightforward questions I have for my ADA. So it’s an email and not a phone call. Does it matter?
   
   Darrell K. Pruitt; DDS

   LikeLike
4. Darrell, on April 28, 2010 at 12:09 PM said:

   Justice on the flat, High Plains

   In the small, West Texas town where I grew up, occasionally someone with a vaulted family name moved in from a big, impersonal city – like Amarillo for instance – where I assume most people don’t even know their next door neighbors. For spoiled, overly-protected children who are used to always having their way, adjusting to the pervasive and penetrating transparency of a small community can offer the proud newbies an important education in common respect for others with less famous names. Genuine people with promising futures wisely learn to get along with others with less stature, pimples and even warts. Naïve rookies, who also happen to be superficial to a fault, follow a different course. They become swell community entertainment.

   Those are the ones that are fun to watch because they never know the exact instant when they became trapped by gossip they cannot hope to control with good looks and smile. Ultimately, even the most stubbornly proud either become a functioning part of the community just like everyone else. Or they are encouraged to move on down the road where they can bother someone else.

   My negotiations with the TDA will continue with or without shy leaders who are offended by my foul language. Other than the fact that I’m just a little more pissed off than before the TDA approached me yesterday with their insulting offer of NOTHING, nothing has changed except for my determination to win sooner than later.

   So let me see if I understand your offer correctly, TDA. First of all, you want me to quit using adult language on the Internet and then you also want me to volunteer to roll over and forfeit all the progress I’ve gained in my four year struggle against your proudly entrenched bureaucracy. You call that an offer? How can one or two boneheads in Austin screw things up any worse for every dental patient in Texas?

   ADA and TDA leaders just don’t quite get it. But they will. And I’ll be there when they do – just to tell the photogenic characters with good looking teeth, “I told you so.” If I were to take the TDA’s recent advice to quit acting unprofessionally, what would be the ADA’s incentive to improve the organization’s lousy, but good looking service?

   Let’s face it. The ADA is nothing more than an empty cardboard box from a once classy store that underwent a regrettable change in management and mission.

   So what’s next, sports fans? I’ve been thinking about this: Just for grins, let’s see if anything happens when I turn up the pressure by tossing in a wicked sort of competition. I’m almost glad (but not proud) to discover that Austin is still just as stupid as Chicago. Sit back. We’ll have us some real fun now.

   Divide and conquer.

   Darrell K. Pruitt; DDS

   LikeLike
5. D. Kellus Pruitt; DDS, on April 29, 2010 at 12:29 AM said:

   Don’t make me go legal on you, TDA. I’ll win.

   As a matter of fact, I’ll win no matter what. The question is, when and how painfully. That’s for you to determine, TDA. (Is this the kind of harassment someone complained about?)

   I have been officially notified by a representative of the Texas Dental Association’s Judicial Committee that there are a reported 127 pages of complaints filed against me dating back to 2007.

   Note: Not a single complaint is from any of my dental patients. My patients actually love me, and they don’t seem to care what TDA officials think. Sorry. The complaints are reportedly from an untold number of unnamed fellow Texas dentists, TDA employees and others (?).

   Before I go any further, does anyone else find it incredible that the complaints spent 3 years in the hands of the TDA Judicial Committee? A few might recall that a little over a year ago, after watching “Animal House,” again, I jokingly suggested I had probably been put on double-secret probation by the TDA. I think the recently revealed petty complaints confirm my suspicions, Bluto…

   Toga party.

   How bad can my behavior be if telling me that I annoy people can be put off for 3 years? Why even bother saying anything at all, TDA Judicial Committee? All you’ve accomplished is to aggravate me and draw attention to your nameless selves. Nevertheless, I’ve already braced my family for the shame we might have to endure in Albertson’s and Discount Tire if the committee decides Texas dental patients will be better off if Darrell Pruitt DDS is stripped of his ADA membership after almost 30 years. Those closest to me assured me that they are OK with it, and asked if I would pick up some milk on the way home. And how do my patients feel about me using the words “bastard” and “butt nugget” on the Internet? As I said, I doubt if they really care. Sorry if that disappoints those who are hypersensitive to foul language. What can I say? Shit happens.

   Insulated and well guarded TDA officials who are inhibited by appearances and a committee for a central nervous system become slowly inflamed when I point out that the natural demise of slow-moving, slow-thinking dinosaurs was because they couldn’t adapt fast enough to climate change. Most died because exposure slowed them down even more, making them easy prey for small, nimble, warm-blooded successors which the dinosaur once squashed thoughtlessly between the toes without breaking stride. The quick little bastards hunted successfully alone at first and later became even more efficient killers when they organized into vicious packs… but that kind of extraneous information is not that important, and it seems to distract some people who work for the TDA. It’s called a metaphor – much like my artistic use of the word “Blitzkrieg” in 2008 that someone in charge of protecting the minds of Texas dentists from violence found objectionable because she didn’t understand it was also just a metaphor. Being knowledgeable about history, she reflexively censored “Blitzkrieg” from the TDA Facebook page before adding the historical German military word to a list of complaints about me that has reportedly grown to 127 pages.

   It is my opinion that slow, unimaginative TDA representation of my patients’ interests is inadequate, and it’s always been inadequate. Just look at the chunks of our profession that our dinosaur organization has allowed parasitic insurance companies to bite off. The wimpy TDA simply steps aside, but looks damn good doing so. Remind me to tell you how I personally forced BCBSTX to drop their NPI plans for Texas dentists when NOBODY in the TDA would risk helping me prevent patients from leaving my practice in search of dentists with arbitrary 10 digit numbers – which the TDA still (very quietly) encourages members to volunteer for.

   You owe me big, BCBSTX. I’d like you to continue to think that I’m still adding up the losses to my business and shopping for attorneys. I’m well aware of the statute of limitations for deceptive business practices. And you, TDA. I’ll always hold you accountable to the damage you caused to the health of my former patients who had to leave their long-term dental home because you would not lift a finger against BCBSTX. Nice going! You should be ashamed. But I know you by now. You are incapable of shame. You’re just sorry I blitzed you (like a football linebacker. Not a war machine. It’s another metaphor based on a word from a foreign language).

   Forget the fact that I too am personally awaiting word from the same Judicial Committee concerning a complaint that was properly filed by a colleague on my behalf this fall for censorship by a TDA employee with no warning or recourse. That ugly part of TDA history happened only months ago. My wait is nothing compared to those who have been waiting since 2007 for the results of their complaints against me. Soon, I’ll see to it that anyone interested will have the opportunity to read more about those complaints, including the names of those who complained. That’s the transparency I’m talking about. If a TDA member takes offense with something I say, don’t go crying to someone who is even more shy than you are. Come explain your problem to me. I’ll listen intently. We’ll all listen intently.

   I only hope that in 2012, when the Judicial Committee finally gets to my complaint, I will have learned self control so I can be silently patient like those hundred or so others. Do you think over the last 3 years, any TDA employees or officials privately shared emails about their complaints against me on TDA-owned computers? I wonder if they shared any emails mentioning my name with non-members outside the TDA? I wonder if any information that might interest me was shared between TDA Headquarters in Austin and ADA Headquarters in Chicago. And what about other dental organizations… such as the AGD? (Gasp!) And what about other non-dentist stakeholders like members of the National Association of Dental Plans? And is it true that there were actually emails mentioning my name passed between ADA officials and US government officials? That’s probably just a Washington rumor.

   I think there are a few dentists around the state who will find it interesting how well the TDA protects the privacy of TDA members. Privacy is much more important to people than The Committee allows TDA leaders to admit. This could be indeed interesting.

   Let’s put aside the pending judgment by the TDA Judicial Committee, which at most could cost me the honor of paying dues to the American Dental Association for the remainder of my career. After all, as slowly as the TDA moves its fat toes, I could be retired by then.

   Petty and meaningless gossip inside the TDA wouldn’t interest me at all except that as I have explained, there are a few TDA officials who are serious in their desire to silence me, but they simply aren’t confident enough in their ill-fitting, committee-approved convictions to confront me themselves. They just have to know the complaints about foul language are bullshit. And when their representative relayed to me a message that nameless TDA leaders are “fed up” with my behavior, it instantly told me what I needed to know about the quantity and entertaining quality of TDA gossip I look forward to reading soon. I hold myself personally accountable for everything I’ve said that they’ve complained about, and I will be proud to share everything that is turned over to me. I actually expect the 127 pages to be a compilation of some of my best writings. The TDA could actually create a market for my writings. I’ll expect to receive all the information I’ve requested by May 5, the day before the TDA Annual meeting in San Antonio. You’ve got a week, TDA.

   Oh how I love the Freedom of Information Act

   Here’s something interesting. About the same time that complaints about me were starting to roll in 3 years ago from TDA employees (?), I scooped the TDA’s own legal department by warning the TDA staff about the new e-Discovery law. I’ve always wondered if the TDA was taking me seriously when I explained how important it is for businesses such as state dental organizations to preserve all emails from everyone. I suspect that would also be about the time TDA employees started sending notes to each other about TDA member Dr. Darrell Pruitt’s foul language. This means that if my suspicions are correct, it will be the e-Discovery law that I warned them about which will ultimately allow me to read everything every TDA employee and officer said about me in the last 3 years. As of today, personal accountability is no longer just a buzzword in Austin. Is it?

   Do you still want to play games with me, TDA, or are you ready to surrender and turn over what I’ve requested. Let’s get this behind us now… or not.

   It will really make Texans look bad if Chicago becomes transparent with membership before Austin does.

   D. Kellus Pruitt; DDS

   LikeLike
6. Steve, on April 29, 2010 at 10:23 AM said:

   Darrell,

   Sorry, but I told you so. Nevertheless, here is my take on the situation.

   You seem like a nice but misguided middle-aged guy. Your heart is with the ADA after many years. But, your mind is in the future as you struggle to leave the non-responsive old guard behind. Just like the MDs left the AMA.

   However, you’re conflicted; so you rage-against-a-broken machine that doesn’t realize its own impotence.

   Get over it already. Follow your intellect, quit the ADA and be happy. I did … and you will too. Then, you can do some real investigative reporting on important topics for us all.

   Steve

   LikeLike
7. Darrell, on April 29, 2010 at 3:12 PM said:

   Steve

   Your points are well taken, and I thank you for your candor, as well as your civility. You’re not the first to suggest that I should just give up an arguably futile fight and take up a less chivalrous hobby.

   Here is a note to me that was posted yesterday by someone whom I apparently upset. I won’t mention his name because I don’t want this to become a personal attack:

   “Amazing how you consistently manage to act like a horse’s ass in all of your online postings, Darrell. And, pretty much everyone who knows of you shares that opinion. Perhaps it’s time to grow up and start acting like a professional … but, based on your history, that seems to be beyond your capabilities. Run along now.”

   http://community.pennwelldentalgroup.com/forum/topics/dentists-who-blog?commentId=2013420%3AComment%3A38418

   Actually, “Don Quixote” has been mentioned to me a time or two, and I absorb that as a compliment. The man from La Mancha is everyone’s hero, isn’t he? As he rambled along, obliviously catalyzing drastic changes in others’ lives, he was always victorious in his own mind. Some argue that self-fulfillment is a hollow goal. I argue that there is nothing in life more real or more important. And up to an ever-changing point, I don’t really care much what others think anyway.

   To me, aggressive blogging has always been more than just a game… although I find the game itself both stimulating and rewarding even if I were to never win against insensitive monsters like the ADA, the TDA, Delta Dental, BCBSTX, Newt Gingrich, CareCredit, Glen Tullman and Kathleen Sebelius among others.

   Because I’m prolific, as well as redundant, it doesn’t bother me to know that it’s hard for others to follow my adventures with enthusiasm – even if they shared my freaky level of mounting interest. For example, apart from making BCBSTX back down from their NPI policy that they spent millions of healthcare dollars promoting – you might not have noticed that I’ve actually won other battles as well. I claim that I have personally changed the marketplace for electronic dental records. For example, what happened to the eDR consultants on the Internet who once sold HIT fantasies to naïve dentists? Other than to quickly pop into the open to call a dentist or two “horses asses,” one doesn’t hear much from them any more. My pleasure.

   As one can see, some are still a little hot at me for impaling them on digital thorns such as eDRs’ danger to patients, liability and a negative return on investment.

   My ranting would be just a meaningless but captivating video game if it wasn’t for one serious aspect. The lawmakers in Washington DC make laws that affect my dental patients according to information provided by the American Dental Association – even self-serving, committee-approved bad information about eDRs.

   For example, in July 2007, Dr. Robert Ahlstrom, the ADA’s recognized expert on health information technology, testified to HHS about 11 benefits of eDRs to the dental profession. Every stinking one of Dr. Ahlstrom’s reasons for national adoption of eDRs is a blatant rationalization to promote his personal HIT hobby. Dr. Ahlstrom’s selling points about the miracles of eDRs are so fantastic that even those who sell eDRs don’t dare use them.

   If one googles “Dr. Robert Ahlstrom,” it wouldn’t surprise me if my public rebuttal of his testimony still appears on his first page. It’s a popular article.

   Would the nation’s dental patients be better off if I hadn’t written the piece? I can’t imagine how it hurt them.

   D. Kellus Pruitt; DDS

   LikeLike
8. Ann Miller RN, on April 29, 2010 at 4:51 PM said:

   This topic is now closed.

   Ann Miller RN, MHA
   [Executve Director]

   LikeLike
9. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, on November 24, 2014 at 7:13 PM said:

   The American Dental Association stopped listening to dentists and patients long ago. Now everyone suffers

   “Big Threats for Small Businesses – Five Reasons Your Small or Midsize Business is a Prime Target for Cybercriminals.” FireEye White Paper. 2013.

   Click to access fireeye-smb-five-reasons.pdf

   “Your business could be one mouse click away from closing its doors forever. That’s the conclusion of a

   2012 study by the National Cyber Security Alliance, which found that 60 percent of small firms go out of business within six months of a data breach. Cyber attacks are growing more sophisticated and, more often than not, target small and midsize businesses (SMBs). One unlucky click—a malicious email attachment, a link to a legitimate but compromised website—could result in a costly data breach that drains your bank account and customer trust.”

   Reason No. 1: Your data is more valuable than you think

   Reason No. 2: Cyber attacks offer low risk and high returns for criminals

   Reason No. 3: You’re an easier target

   Reason No. 4: Many SMBs have their guards down

   Reason No. 5: Most SMB security tools are no match against today’s attacks

   ——-

   “Assume you are a target” (unless you have paper dental records).

   Anyone heard anything at all about de-identification of dentists’ primary records? While the American Dental Association piously refuses to discuss de-ID with this dentist for cosmetic reasons, the FireEye White Paper – based on 2012 data – reveals why number of cyber attacks on dentists’ computers has only increased: “There were 1922 incidents reported during the first nine months of 2014 exposing 904 million records. 74.3% of reported incidents were the result of Hacking, which accounted for 84.8% of the exposed records.” (See: “Data Breach QuickView – Data Breach Trends during the First Nine Months of 2014. Sponsored by: Risk Based Security, Issued in October 2014)

   Click to access 2014-Q3DataBreachQuickView.pdf

   How is inaction on the part of our dental leaders not negligence? Whom do ADA leaders serve – HHS and other fellow stakeholders, or dentists and patients? Where lies the conflict of interest?

   D. Kellus Pruitt DDS

   LikeLike