September 2011
| State Lobby Day- Wednesday, September 28th |
| ASDA students from the universities of Detroit Mercy and Michigan will go to our state Capitol to meet with legislators and discuss two dentistry related issues: Healthy Kids Dental and Dental Workforce & the Kellogg Initiative. Read below to learn more about the issues and the day’s planned events. |
| It’s not too late- Sign up today! |
| If you missed the deadline but still hope to join, a couple spots were opened up to accommodate more students. Please email cammori@umich.edu as soon as possible if you would like to attend since these spots will fill up. |
| Day’s Events |
| Dashing dental students in suits, likely for the first time since their interview day in the FAL, will have breakfast and chat with guest legislators in Lansing. The MDA legislative experts will review the issues of the day discussed below. After breakfast, we will observe Senate in action and be introduced. At that time, Senators will be pulled from the floor to be briefed by students on the issues. The persuasive students will then have lunch followed by a guided tour of the Capitol. The afternoon will give students a chance to observe the House, as well as hold briefing meetings with House representatives. The day will end early with a de-briefing, and students will experience advocating dental policy. |
| Healthy Kids Dental |
| Healthy Kids Dental is a successful Michigan Medicaid program that contracts with Delta Dental of MI for competitive reimbursement and private insurance coverage of kids in 61 counties. HKD has increased dentist participation in Medicaid to 91%. However, funding approval has kept HKD out of the most populated counties needing access to care. Students will present the benefits to expanding the program and approving funding. For more information: click here |
| Dental Workforce and the Kellogg Initiative |
| The Kellogg Foundation provided research with the intention of promoting the dental therapy modeled on the Alaska dental health aide therapists (DHATs) and brought workforce discussion beyond the current dental team into politics. Dentists want to remain active in the discussion of access to care issues and work with the state to create a systematic approach to the problem of access and to improve the programs we currently have in place to better evaluate and address barriers to care. For more information: click here |
| ASDA representatives represent you |
| Stay informed on issues affecting dentistry nationally and locally through updates and events. Start by committing to attend this year’s State Lobby Day. |
Information published in this newsletter is credited to the MDA
