MEET YOUR NEW PRESIDENT

AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. SCOTT BERMAN

Why did you want to be VDA President?

The same reason I wanted to be a Speaker and pretty much every position I’ve had in the VDA and NVDS...I want to serve my profession and I like the people I work with in these positions.

If you could accomplish only one thing in the next 12 months, what would it be?

Increase membership satisfaction. I hope to do this by following the goals in our strategic plan. We now have a roadmap to meet membership needs and concerns better than any time in the past. So ideally, membership satisfaction should increase and ultimately lead to the other goal—increasing market share.

The past 18 months have, due to the pandemic, been a difficult time for the profession. What are some of the challenges facing organized dentistry in the months ahead?

What we do well is we advocate well for us and our patients. We have this great ability to rally around legislative issues. Organized dentistry is a trusted resource for both advocacy, and resources to help us run our practices. Our weakness is very clear – it’s fear of change, fear of making a mistake and upsetting another faction. We will lament over a decision sometimes and become paralyzed by it. If we can overcome that fear, younger members are ready to make a decision and move forward. Insurance companies don’t play nice, and we don’t need to play nice! I think we make decisions, but we take a long time to make those decisions we need. We need to streamline that process: try this, maybe it won’t work, but we’ve learned something in the process.

In recent years the VDA has had some success in growing membership. How do we continue that trend? Do you have a target?

I don’t think the pandemic of the past 18 months is over. So, the challenge is to continue to adapt to the challenges of the changing pandemic and navigating the issues that arise from this near-term crisis. But I think we will come out on the other side of this pandemic better off—better at protecting our patients, better at protecting our staff, and modernizing our practice environment. I know in my practice, Zoom consultations alone have been transformative.

What should the VDA do right now to recruit more members?

I think what will lead to a significant new source of new members is the creation of a member recruitment position employed by the VDA and charged with signing up new members. With that said, the VDA should continue to increase interactions with VCU School of Dentistry students, mentor new members in their first 5 and 10 years after graduation, and work to maximally integrate members into Association activities – encourage participation in committees and the HOD.

In your opinion, what’s the number one reason members drop-out, or as we say, “non-renew”?

They don’t see the value of their membership and/or they don’t feel their needs are being met or concerns not addressed. And, any member that feels that way is a failing of our Association to educate that member to what we do, or is a lacking on our part and should try to be addressed.

You specialized in orthodontics. What can the VDA (and the ADA) do to ensure that specialists and generalists speak with one voice when it comes to advocacy?

I think there should be greater communication and alignment of the ADA and specialty organizations. Medicine has fractured their profession by becoming a specialty-driven profession and the AMA now has membership approaching single digits. (12.1% in 2019) Fortunately, dentistry is a generalist-driven profession, and we should keep it that way. In particular, I’ve brought up to several ADA and AAO leaders the idea of creating a specialty class membership that created a lower ADA national dues for orthodontists that belong to the ADA, if the AAO makes its membership contingent on ADA membership. Currently, to join the AAO, you must first be an ADA member, but renewal does not require that. (The AAO uses the ADA for credentialing of new members because they don’t have that infrastructure in place) If we do this in a revenue-neutral way, it would please both organizations and ensure almost 100% of

specialist participation in the ADA. If successful with the AAO, the other specialties would probably want that same deal.

What should we be doing to make certain our voice is heard by the Virginia Board of Dentistry?

I think what we do now is effective. Monitoring the Virginia Board of Dentistry (VBOD), attending VBOD open meetings, giving testimony when appropriate, enlisting grassroots actions when needed, and ideally encouraging VDA members to consider being on the VBOD.

Do you have any heroes or mentors? Who are they and why do they qualify?

Too numerous to mention. In the VDA, I’ve learned much from those that took me under their wing at different times. Dr. Neil Small started my involvement as a Program Chair in my Component. Dr. Gus Vlahos and Dr. Rod Klima helped me immensely when I was on the VDA PAC and when I chaired that Committee. As a Speaker, Dr. Dave Anderson and Dr. Bruce Hutchison were invaluable to me, especially in my first year. And now as President, I can’t tell you how much I admire what Dr. Frank Iuorno has done this past year and how he has helped me learn this past year. Other VDA leaders I really admire and are “heroes” of mine are Dr. Kirk Norbo and Dr. Ralph Howell. I’m so impressed how they keep giving to the profession at such a high level of service.

Finally, what would you like to be doing five years from now?

I would love to still be involved with the VDA and continuing to serve dentists in Virginia. I hope to transition from daily practice to other diversions, perhaps lecturing or teaching in some capacity. I also hope to be spending time honing my grandson Reid’s golf game. He turns a year next month and I hope by age 6 he and I will be golfing together.