Air Force Dentistry at a Crossroads
Abstract
To the Air Force Dental Service: " They won't know how great you are until you are gone... ", General Anderson, Air Force Surgeon General. Military dentistry is at a crossroads as DoD searches for was to reduce military manpower costs through down sizing and outsourcing. This paper evaluates the early results of outsourcing tests and compares them to the accomplishments of the Dental Service. Three outsourcing projects were evaluated: 1. A fixed price contract was awarded to a civilian corporation to treat approximately 2000 active duty members at the Buckley Clinic in Denver Colorado with on-sight oversight by an Air Force dental officer and two technicians; 2. A 22 civilian preferred provider organization was established at Tinker AFB to provide broad spectrum referrals from the base clinic during protracted resource manpower and; 3. A limited referral contract was let at Robins AFB to supplement care during manpower shortfalls. Very intensive oversight was required to establish and manage the programs. Loss of control of quality and costs could result from unsupervised referrals. Off base care is more costly in patient access time and civilian reexamination and frequent additional radiographic evaluation. In one case civilian billing was suspected of being inaccurate or possibly fraudulent, and is under legal investigation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA396976
Entities
People
- Lewis V. Lieb Jr
Organizations
- Air Command and Staff College