The nebulous term “quality improvement” shouldn’t scare off dentists from attending the upcoming Dental Quality Alliance Conference, as all are welcome, said Dr. Marie Schweinebraten, former ADA trustee and current DQA chair. “On a day-to-day basis, we measure improvement every day, but [dentists] don’t call it that,” she said. “Quality measures provide a means to use tested ways to evaluate and improve your practice.”
ADA members interested in pursuing common goals of quality improvement are encouraged to attend the conference at the Association’s Chicago headquarters May 12-13. Register for the conference here.
The two-day conference, titled Collaboration in Quality Measurement for Improved Oral Health, is meant to educate dentists and other stakeholders in quality measurement and quality improvement through collaboration.
The conference’s objectives are to:
- Gain knowledge on the need for and the goals of measurement to support quality improvement in oral health care.
- Collaborate with key stakeholders and share experiences in oral-systemic health integration as a means of quality improvement.
- Explore strategies for successfully leading and influencing health care improvement through measurement in dentistry.
- Examine emerging trends in quality measurement and leadership across the dental care continuum.
“This is a unique chance to bring together different entities in dentistry interested in quality improvement,” said Dr. Schweinebraten.
Dr. Allan Charles, a periodontist with California’s Pasadena Periodontal Associates, is a past attendee of the conference and said it was informative to learn how other health care professionals — not just dentists — approach the deliverance and measure of care. “It make me think about quality of care in my practice and it gave me a different perspective,” he said.
The DQA, established by the ADA in 2008, through a request from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is comprised of multiple stakeholders from across the oral health community who are committed to the development of consensus-based quality measures. The mission of the DQA is to advance performance measurement as a means to improve oral health, patient care and safety through a consensus-building process.
For more information on the DQA and the conference, visit ADA.org/dqa.
Dentists are also invited to email DQA staff with any questions at dqa@ada.org.
Great way to highlight the need of quality support in dentistry, Where apart from norm & conditions quality maintenance also plays a major role. Which needs to be accurately highlighted.