146TH ANNUAL SESSION
YOUR PDA IS MOVING
FORWARD
By Dr . Bruce R . Terry , Editor
Very few things at the Pennsylvania Dental Association can be called epic . But that is exactly what we will call the 146th House of Delegates that met April 25-26 , 2014 in Hershey . Why epic ? Because , after more than five years of discussion and planning , the House effectively voted to dissolve itself for the good of the association . Let me take you back for a moment . For some time , PDA has been struggling to maintain and grow membership while continuing to conduct business and follow its mission statement . Dynamic forces like an aging population of dentists , burdensome debt of recent graduates and changing ideals in millennials had all contributed to a slow , but steady , decline in membership .
In 2009 we faced some severe financial challenges , and just like many of you did with your home and practice finances , PDA needed to have a strategic plan in order to move ahead .
One of the things that we did was to hire a well known association consultant who had lectured to us several times in the past . Mary Byers is respected in her field and has written a book called “ Race for Relevance .” She writes about the association of the future and gives examples of what organizations similar to PDA should look like moving forward .
At the same time , we were facing financial challenges because our income stream was declining . While we had gained significant income with PDAIS , we were aware of several important future issues . The first was that with each loss of a member we would see less income . Next , each retired member moving to a new reduced income category would result in less income . Third and most important , we were concerned with the Affordable Care Act and how it might affect PDAIS and our future income stream .
All of these financial factors created a perfect storm of trouble . Our leadership could see this storm coming and had the foresight to start preparing . As in all well meaning groups there was lively discussion with agreement on some issues but not on others .
While all of this was taking place , those
involved with membership continued to look for ways to retain and increase membership . Sadly , despite much time and effort spent on securing our future , we continued to decline as an organization .
Despite our concerns , we continued to sponsor events for new dentists and non member dentists . We also continued our advocacy efforts with Day On The Hill and other initiatives that resulted in legislation in our favor with insurance issues and license issues . We were also effective in keeping the government out of our offices when OSHA and state regulators were trying to make the practice of dentistry more difficult .
So , with that as background , let ’ s move ahead . Three years ago the House of Delegates was persuaded that we needed to change how PDA governs itself . We formed a committee that explored how other states work and we invited comments from members . When the House convened in 2013 , it approved a provisional plan that would create a new Board of Trustees and eliminate the House of Delegates altogether . The idea was to
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