by Tracking and reporting systems enable DSOs and large dental practices to ensure all locations remain compliant with federal and state regulations.
Faced with the need to comply with federal and state infection control, dental waste and emergency preparedness regulations, DSOs are looking to experts for direction, according to Bryan Foss, product manager, environmental and infection control, HealthFirst. “A DSO is required to manage multiple locations, which can be in multiple states and require regulations specific to each state,” he says. “This can make it very difficult for the DSO, which must consistently manage a high level of compliance across its organization.” In his experience, it’s becoming more and more common for DSOs to rely on outside companies for help doing so.
Infection control
Dental practices of all sizes face several challenges, Foss says. For one, they must perform biological monitoring – or spore testing – weekly, per CDC recommendations, he says. “While biological monitoring is a relatively simple task, dental offices face several variables, such as staff turnover, illness or staff taking off for vacation, which can interfere with testing.” Sometimes, the staff forgets to test, he adds. “These issues are compounded when the DSO must manage biological monitoring compliance across multiple office locations.
“New online interfaces and technologies to support biological monitoring are now available to help dental offices and DSOs manage their infection control compliance needs for a single practice, or across an entire organization,” Foss continues. “These interfaces do not only track and report dental office spore testing results, they also integrate a much-needed task reminder solution, such as HealthFirst’s own OnTraq online compliance management interface, which is tightly integrated with our BIOlogical spore test solutions.”
Waste management
Dental practices must also comply with national regulations, such as OSHA sharps handling regulations or the new EPA dental amalgam rule, says Foss. And, they must adhere to local and state regulations for the disposal of their dental waste streams, such as sharps and medical waste, amalgam waste, pharmaceutical waste and lead waste. “Dental practices face increasing costs associated with the proper disposal of these waste streams,” he explains. “Traditionally, dental offices have used local waste management services to pick up and dispose of their waste. Often, they’ve had to sign long-term contracts, locking them into high-service costs that increase in time.”
Dental practices – particularly large DSOs – should consider mail-back waste disposal programs, notes Foss. “Mail-back programs enable them to cost-effectively dispose of their dental wastes, while staying compliant with today’s regulations,” he says. “These programs not only include proper documentation to ensure compliance with waste tracking and reporting, they also offer offices flexibility to dispose of their waste when their containers are full, not when the pickup service is scheduled to come, thereby maximizing cost benefits.
“Several mail-back services also provide online waste tracking and reporting programs, ensuring dental offices continuous access to their compliance documentation,” says Foss. “In addition, new auto-replenishment programs are benefitting dental offices in certain states that are required to dispose of their medical waste on a scheduled basis. These programs automatically send out new sharps or medical waste disposal kits, reminding the dental office that it is time to send in the used kits for disposal.
“All of HealthFirst’s dental waste mail-back solutions are tied to our OnTraq online compliance management interface, which provides dental waste tracking and reporting,” he continues. “They are available for auto-replenishment to ensure that dental offices never find themselves out of stock of critical items needed for their practice.”
