RCDSO Responds to National Post Article
Slamming Dental Regulatory Colleges
National Post
September 28, 2002
Trust Your Dentist
Re: Dentists’ Fraud Growing, Sept. 27
As president of the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO), Canada’s largest regulatory body for the dental profession in Canada, I must state unequivocally and without hesitation that the dentists in Ontario consider economic abuse as a very serious matter.
Our business is to protect the public and the dentists and public members who are members of the College’s governing council take this mandate as a sacred trust. In fact, in a recent survey of our members, dentists identified ethics as the number one issue that is important to them.
The College continues to work proactively with the insurance industry. We have met several times over the last two years with insurance companies to discuss how we can collaborate on dealing with fraud. College staff has met regularly with individual insurance companies to explain how they can access our regulatory process.
Our College diligently deals with all complaints, including ones about economic abuse, regardless of the amount of money involved. When dealing with a complaint about fraud, we have a range of sanctions available to us, from requiring the regular monitoring of billing practices to the suspension of a dentist’s licence to practise. It is interesting to note that in the past year while the total number of claims we received has increased, the number of complaints related to fraud has declined.
RCDSO is committed to clearly demonstrating that the 7,400 dentists in Ontario deserve the privilege of self-regulation. Patients must be able to put their trust in dentists.
Dr. Eric Luks
President
Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario