March/April 2018 | Page 36

HISTORICAL TIMELINE 1868 -2018 Gov. Tom Corbett signs into law legislation that requires general anesthesia coverage for children and patients with developmental disabilities. This result stemmed from more than 10 years of PDA’s advocacy efforts. 2012 36 2014 PDA House of Delegates approves major changes to the association’s governance structure and votes to dissolve itself. In the first year of a new annual meeting format, post-House of Delegates, Pennsylvania’s Dental Meeting & Expo is held …the following year shortened to Pennsylvania’s Dental Meeting (PDM). 2015 2016 2017 2016 2018 OC PDA gets another big legislative victory with the passage of non-covered services legislation, prohibiting insurance companies from capping dental services that they do not cover under their plans. 2014 2012 2013 2015 First MOM-n-PA two-day dental mission is held at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, serving more than 1,800 patients and providing $850,000 in donated dental care. 2012 2013 PDA leads a coalition of health care provider groups to pass retroactive insurance claims review legislation that limits the timeframe in which insurers may retroactively review and deny claims to 24 months. Gov. Tom Wolf signed the legislation into law Nov. 4, 2016. JUN 2 Gov. Tom Corbett signs PDA’s volunteer dentistry bill (HB 1056) into law, a significant legislative victory for PDA. MA R CH/A P R I L 2018 | P EN N S YLVA N IA D EN TA L J O UR N A L Dr. Charles Weber, PDA President 2004-2005 The reason I became part of the PDA is because I’m a ‘joiner.’ I was a member of the student dental association when I was a student at the University of Pennsylvania. I realized then that there were a lot of things that dentistry could do, but we could only do it with an organization like the PDA. I also did not like one part of dentistry, and that was the part where you sat in the office by yourself and never had a chance to see another dentist. Physicians always had the chance to meet at the hospital, have lunch together and chat about their various problems. As a dentist, we did not have that availability. Therefore when we had the opportunity to join the PDA and network with our peers, it was a great opportunity to network and develop lifelong friendships.