LFHC ASSUMES FULL CONTROL OF LICH DENTAL CLINIC & DENTAL RESIDENCY PROGRAMS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LUTHERAN FAMILY HEALTH CENTERS ASSUMES FULL CONTROL OF LONG ISLAND COLLEGE HOSPITAL DENTAL CLINIC AND DENTAL RESIDENCY PROGRAMS

August 10, 2010, Brooklyn, New York…The Lutheran Family Health Centers network (LFHC) and Long Island College Hospital (LICH) have successfully negotiated a seamless transition of LICH's dental services and dental residency programs to Lutheran's FQHC (federally qualified health center).

As a new Lutheran Family Health Center dental site (located at 339 Hicks Street on the LICH campus), LICH's existing patients will benefit with enhancements in specialty care including pediatric dentistry, endodontics and additional dental anesthesiology services.

"To the patients and health care staff at LICH, the transition to Lutheran will be seamless," says Larry K. McReynolds, LFHC executive director. "In fact, the clinic will benefit as an extension of our FQHC, whose status will support long-term sustainability by providing increased patient access, access to higher reimbursement rates, increased operational capacity and ultimately treat more patients."

"In looking towards the future, this was an opportunity I sought with great enthusiasm," says Paul Teplitsky, D.M.D., general practice residency director, chairman of the Dentistry Department at LICH. "Lutheran has a national reputation for supporting dental training programs and patient care and will provide our department with an opportunity to grow and offer expanded services and technology that we would not have had otherwise. Through this transition the dental clinic will continue to meet community needs long into the future."

Lead by Neal A. Demby, D.M.D., M.P.H., Lutheran HealthCare's senior vice president of Dental Medicine, the program has expanded exponentially in scope and size since 1969. The vast community focused dental system includes 28 dental clinics across Brooklyn, locations in 14 states including Alaska and Hawaii, and the first U.S. international training site in Trinidad. In all, Lutheran's dental residency program is in more than 60 family health centers nationally and has established affiliations with Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, New York University, A.T. Still University, University of the Pacific, University of Tennessee, Tufts University, University of Puerto Rico and the University of the West Indies. All of the Lutheran residency training programs are accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association.

Earlier this year, Lutheran assumed control over New York City's Oral Health Program in public schools preserving 15 clinics that serve the city's most vulnerable populations. Lutheran is also one of the largest and first family health networks in the country to "go live" with electronic medical records, which will be implemented at its site on the LICH campus and will yield improvements in the accessibility, quality, scope and coordination of dental care.

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