IMPRESSIONS
Dr. Stephen T. Radack III
Editor
True Grassroots Governance
and Advocacy
Welcome to the annual advocacy issue
of your PDJ. The most recent membership
survey showed that advocacy is still
believed to be the number one member
benefit for belonging to PDA. If you have
been following the eNews Updates you
know that there are several bills that PDA
is working on to improve your practice,
and you have also seen the letter that our
attorney Tom Weber sent the state
Insurance Commissioner in response to
United Concordia Dental (UCCI) lowering
some of their fees.
PDA, ADA, our lobbyists, staff and
grassroots members are always working
for us whether we know it or not. Being a
member of PADPAC is a very important
part of that process. I can still hear Dr.
Bill Trice promoting membership in the
PAC at every dental meeting he attended.
In this publication, you will see a listing
of our members who have heeded that
advice, but as always we can do better.
Read this issue and learn what is going on
and how PDA is working to protect your
practice and your patients, and when
that dues statement comes in November
keep the PAC contribution as part of your
bottom dues line and let a small part of
your dollars help with our mission.
When thinking about advocacy,
governance, legislation and representation
for this issue I wanted to take a slightly
different tack and write a bit about PDA’s
current governance model. As you may
recall, it was at the end of the 2014
Annual Meeting that the final steps in the
governance changes were adopted by
the last House of Delegates (HOD). I was
the first president of PDA to serve in that
new model. I can tell you that as I travel to
different meetings, there are many ADA
members who are curious about how
things are going or how our model works.
I am always proud to say that PDA now
has a true grassroots governance where
every member’s voice can be heard.
Can you imagine that every member
who has an email address on file with PDA
has the opportunity to vote for presidentelect, treasurer and the delegates who
will represent us at the ADA House?
That every member has an opportunity to
serve on one of our Advisory Groups and
speak to a topic that interests them from
the comfort of their couch or office
without having to make a trip to Harrisburg
or make a five-year commitment to serve,
as it was in the old council structure?
Would you believe that members have an
opportunity to bring their issues to either
their local or district president and have
those issues discussed at a larger forum,
the Council of Presidents (COP), and then
have those issues brought to the PDA
Board of Trustees for possible action?
Most can’t believe this when I tell them
about it and wonder how the members of
our former HOD ever made the decision
to get rid of itself. For many who were a
part of that process, we know that there
were three years of a Governance Task
Force, which I had the privilege of serving
on, that made recommendations to the
HOD in 2013 and then worked on crafting
the necessary bylaws to make the
changes in governance that the HOD
passed by more than the necessary
two-thirds majority in 2014.
I have heard some rumblings from a
few members that our new model is not
working, and that voices and concerns
are not being heard in this model. Those
folks seem to long for the “good old days”
of the Annual Meeting, which existed
solely to support a HOD. If they are
feeling disenfranchised and believe that
their voices are not being heard, then we
need to do a better job making sure that
the systems that this governance model
put in place are working. Are your local
leaders taking your issues to the COP for
discussion? Have you found a forum for
your concerns in government relations?
Communications and public relations?
Issues that affect your dental practice?
Do you have an issue or idea that you
would like to discuss with other members?
Do you believe that you have an important
issue that should go directly to the
board? Your PDA has a way for your
voice to be heard and for these questions
to be answered, but you have to be
willing to participate in the process. Talk
to your local and district presidents. Join
an advisory group. Start your own group
on our PD