NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL EVENT

2008 Going Green Conference: Building, Technology & Practices

Thursday, October 9, 2008, 7:30-11:45 a.m., Doubletree Hotel, Rohnert Park

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Pediatric dental surgery center seeking to expand

WITH 300 PROCEDURES DONE, MORE CAPACITY WOULD MEET RISING NEED

WINDSOR, NORTH BAY – Just six months after opening, the North Bay’s first and only no-cost pediatric dental surgery center is pushing forward with plans to double its capacity and add at least three new doctors.

On Wednesday, the Redwood Empire Surgery Center, operated by the nonprofit Pediatric Dental Initiative of the North Coast, will celebrate its 300th surgery since opening in January. But even in its short tenure, the need in its five-county service area has stacked waiting lists.

In most cases, patients wait between one and three weeks for care, but that will likely increase if surgery hours are not available. Children that need immediate treatment can get in within 24 hours.

The surgery center can see about six patients per day, but officials hope expansions will allow them to more than double that number. Once they raise the needed $33,000 for a new operating room, they could see as many as 14 patients a day.

The facility, which provides high-level dental surgery for low-income patients, is a rarity in the Bay Area, outside of San Francisco, and PDI’s services will become even more important as expected Medi-Cal cuts whittle into low-income preventative dental care.

“The expected Medi-Cal cuts will affect us directly and indirectly. We are not losing any adult dental funding like the clinics, but we will be impacted by the 10 percent across-the-board cuts expected this year,” said PDI Chief Executive Officer Viveka Rydell.

“Less directly, since more people will lose Medi-Cal coverage because of the new eligibility requirements, there will be less parents getting preventative care for their kids, and tooth decay and more serious dental problems will go untreated.”

Medi-Cal patients can receive care in hospital emergency rooms, but they are usually referred to a private doctor, which unlike PDI do not receive reimbursement for anesthesia and must charge patients an $800 fee. If the patient is not eligible for Medi-Cal and does not have insurance, dental surgery in the hospital can cost as much as $5,000. PDI sees uninsured patients on a sliding scale between $50 and $100.

Patients come to the surgery center through referrals from 33 health groups in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Lake and Marin counties. Children are generally eligible for the services if they are under the age of 6, on Medi-Cal or Healthy Families, or from an extremely low-income household. Clients usually have at least eight cavities and some have as many as 18.

The center currently has three hospital-trained dentists, one pediatric dentist and a medically trained pediatric anesthesiologist. Next month, the group plans to add two more dentists and others will be recruited once expansions are completed. The center hours will also be extended from three days a week to four.

Ms. Rydell said the group is based on a public-private model replicated after a program in Modesto, but with added services including prevention outreach and transportation services. In addition to the general capital campaign for the operating room, officials have separate funds for each county that raise money for patients who are not covered by Medi-Cal and for transportation either by cab or bus.

Eventually, the program will be completely self-sustaining without a need for public fundraising, but leaders are currently building an endowment for times when state reimbursements are not enough to cover costs.

Also in plans for the future, the group hopes to begin treating adults and older children with developmental disabilities. Once enough funds are raised for the second operating room, at least one day a week will be devoted to treating those patients. “When PDI was created, the goal was to treat those most underserved, and those with developmental disabilities have an even harder time finding the services they need,” Rydell said.

The nonprofit was founded in 2001 through funding from the Academy of Pediatrics/HRSA-Healthy Tomorrow; Community Foundation Sonoma County; California Endowment; the First 5 Commission of Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake Counties; the Department of Developmental Disabilities; and Bank of the West.

The group has since received funding from Kaiser Permanente, St. Joseph Health System-Sonoma County, the Wendt Family Charitable Trust of Community Foundation Sonoma County, Airport Business Center, the Fruth Family Foundation, Trione Vineyards & Winery, Codding Foundation, Exchange Bank, Ernest L. and Ruth W. Finley Foundation and others.