Repercusiones en la deontología española ante el auge de las clínicas dentales low cost / Repercussions in Spanish deontology in light of the rise of low cost dental clinics / Repercussões na deontologia espanhola diante do boom das clínicas dentais de baixo custo

Resumen: El cambio en el modelo asistencial odontológico en España ha supuesto la proliferación de grandes franquicias dentales o clínicas dentales low cost. Este tipo de establecimientos suelen realizar la captación de pacientes mediante agresivas campañas de publicidad, establecen financiaciones de los presupuestos directamente con entidades bancarias y rebajan los presupuestos inicialmente marcados. En los últimos años, la Comisión de Ética y Deontología del Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Odontólogos y Estomatólogos de Aragón ha comprobado un notable aumento de las reclamaciones de pacientes procedentes de este tipo de clínicas. Uno de los casos más llamativos ha sido el cierre de la franquicia iDental, que dejó a miles de personas sin terminar sus tratamientos odontológicos. Se pretende realizar una puesta al día de las repercusiones deontológicas que estas clínicas tienen en la deontología dental de la Comunidad Autónoma de Aragón.

Abstract: The change in deontological health care model in Spain has led to the proliferation of huge dental franquises or low cost dental clinics. This type of settings generally engages customers by aggressive advertising campaigns, establishing financing with banks and reducing the agreed initial budget. In the last years, the Ethical and Deontological Commission of the Official College of Dentists and Stomatologists of Aragon has noticed a significant increase of claims by patients attending this type of clinics. One of the most striking cases has been the closing of iDental, which led thousands of patients without finishing dental treatment. This study pretends updating the deontological repercussions that these clinics have in the Autonomous Community of Aragon.

Resumo: A mudança no modelo assistencial odontológico na Espanha implicou na proliferação de grandes franquias dentais ou clínicas dentais de baixo custo. Estes tipos de estabelecimentos habitualmente realizam a captação de pacientes mediante agressivas campanhas publicitárias, estabelecem financiamento dos orçamentos diretamente com instituições bancárias e abaixam os orçamentos inicialmente apresentados. Nos últimos anos, a Comissão de Ética e Deontologia do Ilustre Colégio Oficial de Odontólogos e Estomatólogos de Aragão comprovou um notável aumento de reclamações de pacientes procedentes deste tipo de clínica. Um dos casos mais chamativos foi o encerramento da franquia iDental, que deixou milhares de pessoas sem terminar seus tratamentos odontológicos. Se pretende realizar uma atualização das repercussões deontológicas que estas clínicas têm na deontologia dental da Comunidade Autônoma de Aragão.

Point-of-care characterization and risk-based management of oral lesions in primary dental clinics: A simulation model.

OBJECTIVES: Oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) encompass histologically benign, dysplastic, and cancerous lesions that are often indistinguishable by appearance and inconsistently managed. We assessed the potential impact of test-and-treat pathways enabled by a point-of-care test for OPMD characterization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We constructed a decision-analytic model to compare life expectancy of test-treat strategies for 60-year-old patients with OPMDs in the primary dental setting, based on a trial for a point-of-care cytopathology tool (POCOCT). Eight strategies of OPMD detection and evaluation were compared, involving deferred evaluation (no further characterization), prompt OPMD characterization using POCOCT measurements, or the commonly recommended usual care strategy of routine referral for scalpel biopsy. POCOCT pathways differed in threshold for additional intervention, including surgery for any dysplasia or malignancy, or for only moderate or severe dysplasia or cancer. Strategies with initial referral for biopsy also reflected varied treatment thresholds in current practice between surgery and surveillance of mild dysplasia. Sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the impact of variation in parameter values on model results. RESULTS: Requisite referral for scalpel biopsy offered the highest life expectancy of 20.92 life-years compared with deferred evaluation (+0.30 life-years), though this outcome was driven by baseline assumptions of limited patient adherence to surveillance using POCOCT. POCOCT characterization and surveillance offered only 0.02 life-years less than the most biopsy-intensive strategy, while resulting in 27% fewer biopsies. When the probability of adherence to surveillance and confirmatory biopsy was ≥ 0.88, or when metastasis rates were lower than reported, POCOCT characterization extended life-years (+0.04 life-years) than prompt specialist referral. CONCLUSION: Risk-based OPMD management through point-of-care cytology may offer a reasonable alternative to routine referral for specialist evaluation and scalpel biopsy, with far fewer biopsies. In patients who adhere to surveillance protocols, POCOCT surveillance may extend life expectancy beyond biopsy and follow up visual-tactile inspection.

Modeling patient's value using a stochastic approach: An empirical study in the medical industry.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The rapid growth of computer methods encourages and creates competitive advantages in the medical industry. Nowadays many health centers try to build successful and beneficial relationships with their patients using customer relationship management (CRM) methods, to recognize target patients, attract potential patients, increase patient loyalty and maximize profitability. Customer lifetime value (CLV) is a metric that can help organizations to calculate their customers' value or group them; therefore in this research we aim to develop a new CLV model for the medical industry that groups patients using computer-based methods. METHODS: To model CLV for the medical industry, we will use two computer-based methods. First, to model patients' behavior, a data mining approach is required: the K-means algorithm is used to cluster patients and the decision tree technique is used to analyze patient clusters. Next, Markov chain model, a stochastic approach, is utilized to predict future behavior of customers RESULTS: This paper proposes a new CLV model for the medical industry that has some benefits over other CLV papers. It is patient behavior based, helping us to predict the future behavior of each patient as well as helping to modify managerial strategies for each type of patient. The derived CLV model includes less than 0.08 error rates. CONCLUSIONS: Using the derived CLV model helps health centers to group their patients by computer-based methods, which makes their decision making more accurate and trustworthy. The present research helps organizations within the health industry to group and rank their patients by a new CLV model and fit their strategies to each patient group, based on his/her behavior type.

Current Status of Operation and Management of Dental School Clinics.

This article summarizes the current status of the operation and management of dental school clinics as schools strive to provide excellent patient-centered care in an environment that is educationally sound, efficient, and financially strong. Clinical education is a large component of dental education and an area in which many dental schools have an opportunity to enhance revenue. Clinical efficiencies and alternative models of clinical education are evolving in U.S. dental schools, and this article describes some of those evolutionary changes. This article was written as part of the project "Advancing Dental Education in the 21st Century."

Changes in university orthodontic care over a period of 20 years : Patient characteristics, treatment quality, and treatment costs.

AIM: The aim of the present study was to analyze whether there were changes in the severity of malocclusions of patients treated at the Department of Orthodontics, University of Giessen, Germany over a period of 20 years (1992-2012) and if the implementation of the KIG system (German index of treatment need) in 2001 had any effect on the patient cohort. Furthermore, the study aimed to analyze the influence of the severity of malocclusion on treatment quality and economic efficiency (relation payment per case/treatment effort). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The files of all 5385 patients admitted to the orthodontic department between 1992 and 2012 were screened and the following information was recorded: patient characteristics, treatment duration, KIG, treatment outcome, and costs. RESULTS: In the KIG period, patients were older, pretreatment malocclusions were more severe, treatment took longer, required more appointments, and did not achieve the same degree of perfection as in the pre-KIG period. Patients with a higher pretreatment KIG category had longer treatments and did not achieve the same degree of perfection as patients with lower KIG categories. Although total payment was slightly higher for the more severe cases, their cost-per-appointment ratio was significantly lower. CONCLUSION: In the present university department, a shift of the orthodontic care task towards more complex cases has occurred over the last 20 years. Generally the quality of orthodontic treatment was good, but it has been demonstrated that the higher KIG cases did not end up at the same level of excellence as the lower KIG cases. Furthermore, KIG 5 patients had a longer treatment duration, and required more appointments than lower KIG cases.

Dental Quality Measurement--A Practitioner Perspective.

This article reviews the HealthPartners Dental Group's experience with clinical quality measurement and provides information on the administrative infrastructure that supports measurement within the group. Some examples of the role measurement plays in operations and clinical practice are also reviewed.

Improving the Fiscal Sustainability of Teaching Clinics at Dental Schools.

Educational patient care clinics are becoming an increasingly important source of revenue for dental schools. Revenue from clinics can help offset the rising cost of dental education. In addition, those clinics represent a source of income over which the schools have reasonably direct control. Recently, a group of nine U.S. dental schools conducted a detailed financial survey of their clinics and shared the confidential results with each other. The purpose of their analysis was to develop benchmarks for key factors related to clinical financial productivity and expenses and to define best practices to guide improvements at each school. The survey found significant variations among the nine schools in revenue produced by predoctoral students and by postdoctoral residents. There were similar variations for levels of clinical staffing. By sharing the results of the survey with each other, the individual schools gained a strong understanding of the business strengths or weakness of their own clinical programs. That information gave each school's leaders the opportunity to investigate how they might improve their clinical fiscal sustainability.

Health economic analyses of domiciliary dental care and care at fixed clinics for elderly nursing home residents in Sweden.

OBJECTIVES: Dental care for elderly nursing home residents is traditionally provided at fixed dental clinics, but domiciliary dental care is an emerging alternative. Longer life expectancy accompanied with increased morbidity, and hospitalisation or dependence on the care of others will contribute to a risk for rapid deterioration of oral health so alternative methods for delivering oral health care to vulnerable individuals for whom access to fixed dental clinics is an obstacle should be considered. The aim was to analyse health economic consequences of domiciliary dental care for elderly nursing home residents in Sweden, compared to dentistry at a fixed clinic. METHODS: A review of relevant literature was undertaken complemented by interviews with nursing home staff, officials at county councils, and academic experts in geriatric dentistry. Domiciliary dental care and fixed clinic care were compared in cost analyses and cost-effectiveness analyses. RESULTS: The mean societal cost of domiciliary dental care for elderly nursing home residents was lower than dental care at a fixed clinic, and it was also considered cost-effective. Lower cost of dental care at a fixed dental clinic was only achieved in a scenario where dental care could not be completed in a domiciliary setting. CONCLUSIONS: Domiciliary dental care for elderly nursing home residents has a lower societal cost and is cost-effective compared to dental care at fixed clinics. To meet current and predicted need for oral health care in the ageing population alternative methods to deliver dental care should be available.

The relative patient costs and availability of dental services, materials and equipment in public oral care facilities in Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: Patient charges and availability of dental services influence utilization of dental services. There is little available information on the cost of dental services and availability of materials and equipment in public dental facilities in Africa. This study aimed to determine the relative cost and availability of dental services, materials and equipment in public oral care facilities in Tanzania. The local factors affecting availability were also studied. METHODS: A survey of all district and regional dental clinics in selected regions was conducted in 2014. A total of 28/30 facilities participated in the study. A structured interview was undertaken amongst practitioners and clinic managers within the facilities. Daily resources for consumption (DRC) were used for estimation of patients' relative cost. DRC are the quantified average financial resources required for an adult Tanzanian's overall consumption per day. RESULTS: Tooth extractions were found to cost four times the DRC whereas restorations were 9-10 times the DRC. Studied facilities provided tooth extractions (100%), scaling (86%), fillings (79%), root canal treatment (46%) and fabrication of removable partial dentures (32%). The ratio of tooth fillings to extractions in the facilities was 1:16. Less than 50% of the facilities had any of the investigated dental materials consistently available throughout the year, and just three facilities had all the investigated equipment functional and in use. CONCLUSIONS: Dental materials and equipment availability, skills of the practitioners and the cost of services all play major roles in provision and utilization of comprehensive oral care. These factors are likely to be interlinked and should be taken into consideration when studying any of the factors individually.

Curriculum time compared to clinical procedures in amalgam and composite posterior restorations in U.S. dental schools: a preliminary study.

Dental clinicians have an expanding range of biomaterial choices for restoring tooth structure. Scientific developments in cariology, advances in dental biomaterials, and patients' esthetic concerns have led to a reduction in amalgam restorations and an increase in composite restorations. The aim of this study was to compare teaching time with students' clinical procedures in amalgam and composite posterior restorations in dental schools across the United States. Academic deans in 60 schools were invited to complete a survey that asked for the amount of instructional time for amalgam and composite posterior restorations and the number of clinical restorations performed by their Classes of 2009, 2010, and 2011. Of these 60, 12 returned surveys with complete data, for a 20% response rate. Responses from these schools showed little change in lecture and preclinical laboratory instruction from 2009 to 2011. There was a slight increase in two-surface restorations for both amalgam and composites; however, the total number of reported composite and amalgam restorations remained the same. Of 204,864 restorations reported, 53% were composite, and 47% were amalgam. There were twice as many multisurface large or complex amalgam restorations as composites. One-surface composite restorations exceeded amalgams. Among the participating schools, there was little to no change between curriculum time and clinical procedures. Findings from this preliminary study reflect a modest increase in two-surface resin-based restorations placed by dental students from 2009 to 2011 and little change in curricular time devoted to teaching amalgam restorations. The total number of posterior composite restorations placed by students in these schools was slightly higher than amalgams.

Community dental clinics in British Columbia, Canada: examining the potential as health equity interventions.

Community dental clinics (CDCs) have emerged to provide oral healthcare for those with low incomes. In British Columbia, the establishment of community clinics has been quite rapid in recent years. However, the expansion has occurred with very little assessment of their impact or effectiveness. While oral health inequities are well recognised, there is limited documentation on healthcare interventions to reduce oral health inequities. This study examines CDCs as health equity interventions from the perspectives of individuals establishing and operating the clinics. The study included interviews with 17 participants--4 dentists, 6 dental hygienists and 7 clinic managers--from 10 clinics operating in British Columbia, Canada in 2008-2009. A thematic analysis of the interview transcripts, explored through a health equity framework, found many ways in which the CDCs exemplify health equity interventions. Although their design and mandates are varied, they potentially enable access to dental treatment, but without necessarily ensuring sustainable outcomes. Moreover, the scalability of CDCs is questionable because frequently they are limited to emergency care and are less responsive to the gradients of needs for populations facing multiple barriers to care. Many of them operate on a charitable base with input from volunteer dentists; however, this foundation probably eases the pressure on dentists and dental hygienists rather than offering a safety net to underserved populations.

Costs of health IT: beginning to understand the financial impact of a dental school EHR.

Health Information Technology (Health IT) constitutes an integral component of the operations of most academic dental institutions nowadays. However, the expenses associated with the acquisition and the ongoing maintenance of these complex systems have often been buried among costs for other electronic infrastructure systems, distributed across various cost centers including unmeasured central campus support, covered centrally and therefore difficult to quantify, and spread over years, denying school administrators a clear understanding of the resources that have been dedicated to Health IT. The aim of this study was to understand the financial impact of Health IT at four similar U.S. dental schools: two schools using a purchased Electronic Health Record (EHR), and two schools that developed their own EHR. For these schools, the costs of creating ($2.5 million) and sustaining ($174,000) custom EHR software were significantly higher than acquiring ($500,000) and sustaining ($121,000) purchased software. These results are based on historical data and should not be regarded as a gold standard for what a complete Health IT suite should cost. The presented data are intended to inform school administrators about the myriad of costs associated with Health IT and give them a point of reference when comparing costs or making estimates for implementation projects.

Cost analysis of periodontitis management in public sector specialist dental clinics.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this paper is to quantify the cost of periodontitis management at public sector specialist periodontal clinic settings and analyse the distribution of cost components. METHODS: Five specialist periodontal clinics in the Ministry of Health represented the public sector in providing clinical and cost data for this study. Newly-diagnosed periodontitis patients (N = 165) were recruited and followed up for one year of specialist periodontal care. Direct and indirect costs from the societal viewpoint were included in the cost analysis. They were measured in 2012 Ringgit Malaysia (MYR) and estimated from the societal perspective using activity-based and step-down costing methods, and substantiated by clinical pathways. Cost of dental equipment, consumables and labour (average treatment time) for each procedure was measured using activity-based costing method. Meanwhile, unit cost calculations for clinic administration, utilities and maintenance used step-down approach. Patient expenditures and absence from work were recorded via diary entries. The conversion from MYR to Euro was based on the 2012 rate (1€ = MYR4). RESULTS: A total of 2900 procedures were provided, with an average cost of MYR 2820 (€705) per patient for the study year, and MYR 376 (€94) per outpatient visit. Out of this, 90% was contributed by provider cost and 10% by patient cost; 94% for direct cost and 4% for lost productivity. Treatment of aggressive periodontitis was significantly higher than for chronic periodontitis (t-test, P = 0.003). Higher costs were expended as disease severity increased (ANOVA, P = 0.022) and for patients requiring surgeries (ANOVA, P < 0.001). Providers generally spent most on consumables while patients spent most on transportation. CONCLUSIONS: Cost of providing dental treatment for periodontitis patients at public sector specialist settings were substantial and comparable with some non-communicable diseases. These findings provide basis for identifying potential cost-reducing strategies, estimating economic burden of periodontitis management and performing economic evaluation of the specialist periodontal programme.

[Analysis of outpatient care in Brazilian municipalities with and without specialized dental clinics, 2010]. / Análise da produção ambulatorial em municípios com e sem centros de especialidades odontológicas no Brasil em 2010.

The aim of this study was to describe the production of specialized outpatient dental services and associated factors in Brazilian municipalities (counties) with and without Specialized Dental Clinics (SDC). Data were collected from the following sources: Information Technology Department of the Unified National Health System, Human Development Atlas for Brazil, and Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression was used to fit rates of endodontic procedures, primary care, periodontics, and surgery. After controlling for socio-demographic factors, municipalities with SDC showed higher rates for the above-mentioned procedures than those without, except for primary care. In the final model, including service structure variables, municipalities with type III SDC showed a rate of endodontic procedures that was 2.08 times higher (95%CI: 1.26; 3.44) than those without. Among the structural variables, municipalities with higher health expenditures and more dentists in the Unified National Health System showed consistently higher rates for all types of procedures. The SDC appear to have a positive effect on the local production of specialized procedures (especially endodontic), an effect not explained by structural variables.

¿Eficiente administración sanitaria? Caso clínica estomatológica / Efficient sanitary administration? The Stomatologic Clinic Case

La administración en las instituciones de salud es un tema importante para el logro de la satisfacción de los pacientes y familiares, a la par de la correcta utilización de los recursos disponibles. El sistema de salud en Cuba es presupuestado, y por ello, una gestión eficiente es vital para distribuir los recursos en función de los mejores resultados. Un importante indicador a considerar en este tema lo constituyen los costos de calidad. Dentro del sistema nacional de salud, las clínicas estomatológicas son organizaciones donde resulta muy novedoso el tema de mejoramiento continuo de su gestión a partir de los costos de calidad. En el presente trabajo se realizó una evaluación de los costos de calidad en la Clínica Estomatológica Docente III Congreso del PCC, lo cual constituyó la base del programa de mejoras. El costo total de calidad fue de 22 394.15 pesos en el año 2011, siendo el 62,69 por ciento por fallos relacionados esencialmente a reelaboraciones, desperdicios, paralización parcial por poco instrumental, entre otras causas que fueron la base del programa de mejora(AU)

The administration of health care institutions is an important theme for achieving the patients and relatives satisfaction, and the right usage of the available resources at the same time. Health Care System in Cuba is budgeted and for that, an efficient management is vital in distributing the resources for better results. Quality costs are an important indicator to consider in this theme. Inside the national Health Care System, stomatologic clinics are organizations where it is fashionable the theme of the continuous management improvement on the basis of the quality costs. In the current work we carried out an evaluation of the quality costs at the Teaching Stomatologic Clinic III Congreso del Partido, took as the basis of the improvement program. The total quality cost was 22 394.15 pesos in 2011. 62,69 percent was caused by mistakes essentially related with re-elaboration, wastes, partial paralyzing because of few instrumental, among other causes that were the base of the improvement program(AU)

Eficiente administración sanitaria? Caso clínica estomatológica / Efficient sanitary administration? The Stomatologic Clinic Case

La administración en las instituciones de salud es un tema importante para el logro de la satisfacción de los pacientes y familiares, a la par de la correcta utilización de los recursos disponibles. El sistema de salud en Cuba es presupuestado, y por ello, una gestión eficiente es vital para distribuir los recursos en función de los mejores resultados. Un importante indicador a considerar en este tema lo constituyen los costos de calidad. Dentro del sistema nacional de salud, las clínicas estomatológicas son organizaciones donde resulta muy novedoso el tema de mejoramiento continuo de su gestión a partir de los costos de calidad. En el presente trabajo se realizó una evaluación de los costos de calidad en la Clínica Estomatológica Docente III Congreso del PCC, lo cual constituyó la base del programa de mejoras. El costo total de calidad fue de 22 394.15 pesos en el año 2011, siendo el 62,69 por ciento por fallos relacionados esencialmente a reelaboraciones, desperdicios, paralización parcial por poco instrumental, entre otras causas que fueron la base del programa de mejora.

The administration of health care institutions is an important theme for achieving the patients and relatives satisfaction, and the right usage of the available resources at the same time. Health Care System in Cuba is budgeted and for that, an efficient management is vital in distributing the resources for better results. Quality costs are an important indicator to consider in this theme. Inside the national Health Care System, stomatologic clinics are organizations where it is fashionable the theme of the continuous management improvement on the basis of the quality costs. In the current work we carried out an evaluation of the quality costs at the Teaching Stomatologic Clinic III Congreso del Partido, took as the basis of the improvement program. The total quality cost was 22 394.15 pesos in 2011. 62,69 percent was caused by mistakes essentially related with re-elaboration, wastes, partial paralyzing because of few instrumental, among other causes that were the base of the improvement program.