Legal Requirements in a Dental Practice
Sexual harassment is a prohibited form of discrimination and one of the most commonly invoked forms of prohibited discriminatory harassment. Your employees work in close contact with patients during dental care, but also during other tasks. Unfortunately, inappropriate progress and behaviour can occur in these situations. Therefore, dentists should always be vigilant when dealing with all forms of sexual harassment. Get a clear and concise explanation of the terms of a proposed agreement with a third-party payer. Learn about the laws and regulations that govern how to promote your practice. As public accommodation, dental offices must take certain steps to provide barrier-free access for people with disabilities. For example, the dental office may need to provide ramps, elevators, and other specific structural changes to accommodate wheelchairs. For more information, see U.S. Department of Justice, ADA Update: A Primer for Small Business. Professional company: When you`re starting a professional business, it`s easy to separate your finances from your business. They are still very simple, but require more paperwork than a sole proprietorship – including annual meetings.
Professional companies allow you to get health insurance through the company, but you have to pay franchise taxes through the company. This strategy is most effective if you plan to bring a partner into your practice at some point or if you want to start partnering with another dentist. On the other hand, if you are a partner, setting up your firm as a business can also help provide additional levels of protection that prevent each member of the firm from being assigned in the event that a member is sued for misconduct. When asked what would be my advice for dental offices who want to make sure they are aware of all the legal and HR issues and the day-to-day running of their practices, I say remember the acronym No. 1 DENTIST. Make sure all areas of your dental office, including your employee`s break area, are free of materials that could offend others. For example, elements such as illustrations or caricatures that deal with issues such as religion and sexuality may be considered offensive to some and therefore promote a hostile work environment. The nature of contact between health care providers (including dentists and their staff) and the public is often more “physical” than in the general workforce. In addition, patients often see health care providers in circumstances that may put them in a “vulnerable” position. More recently, the National Labour Relations Board has focused on employee interviews that take place on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, and clarified that employee communications that take place outside of working hours on computers and mobile phones about terms and conditions of employment are also protected by law. Supervisors and even employees, as long as they can be interpreted as referring to terms and conditions of employment and not as grossly offensive or threatening.
Information and ideas to help you establish effective social media guidelines for your dental team. The Americans with Disabilities Act also requires dental offices to communicate effectively with people with disabilities. For example, in certain circumstances, it may be necessary for a dental office to provide sign language interpreter or other assistance or service to a member of the deaf public. For more information on effective communication under the law, see the Department of Justice publication, Effective Communication. Knowing the laws that govern dental practice can help you avoid costly and time-consuming legal challenges. A Dentist`s Guide to the Law: 246 Things Every Dentist Should Know is a practical resource for addressing the wide range of legal issues relevant to you, your team, and your practice. Examples of discrimination in dental practice may include unfair refusal of employment, non-payment of equal pay, denial of a well-deserved promotion, or termination of employment if caused, in whole or in part, by the unlawful consideration of the employee`s status as a member of a legally protected group of persons. Workers who feel discriminated against can contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to file a complaint. You can also file a complaint at the state level. While DMP organizations play an important role in the dental practices they serve, the clinical and regulatory responsibilities of dentists remain the same. In this way, the barrier between companies and patient care remains and patients can be sure that their dentists are making prudent treatment decisions.
It also ensures that dentists retain control over their business decisions and can expand, shrink, sell or close their practice at their discretion. Customers in all industries demand increasingly valuable services that are both more cost-effective and efficient. The dental profession cannot afford to limit its options, and DPM companies are stepping in to answer the call. The idea of using third-party vendors to perform human resources, clergy and accounting tasks is not new.