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American Dental Association (ada.org)

By Karen Fox

In accepting the final report of the Task Force on the Commission on Dental Accreditation in June, the ADA Board of Trustees noted the impact of the task force’s benchmarking study that explored best practices in more than 20 accrediting agencies and placed CODA in perspective within the arena in which it operates.

…"We are taking this report and these recommendations very seriously and we will thoroughly, objectively and honestly communicate our results, however long it takes," said Dr. James Koelbl, chair of the Commission on Dental Accreditation.

Some of the task force’s recommendations were being developed by CODA before the report was issued, he added.

For example, the report calls for enhanced communications between CODA and its communities of interest and an extended meeting format. The commission has already distributed the first issue of its new electronic newsletter, Accreditation News, and a recent information session was held at ADA Headquarters for members of the communities of interest. Both of these changes were the result of an ad-hoc CODA Committee on Communication, which has been working over this past year under the leadership of Dr. Larry Nissen.

In addition, the format of the January 2009 meeting has been revised in order to allow more time for the review and discussion of accreditation decisions. Read the full story >>