Industry News

AMD LASERS Picasso Users Meeting to Be Held in Conjunction With the Dentaltown Townie Meeting This May

Indianapolis, IN (March 9, 2011) – AMD LASERS (amdlasers.com), the world's leading dental laser company, announced today that Townie Meeting, LLC and AMD LASERS have reached an agreement to combine the Annual Townie Meeting with the AMD LASERS Annual Users Meeting. The event will be held May 4-7, 2011 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. AMD LASERS users have also been granted special Townie Meeting rate for attending the event. To take advantage of this offer, please visit www.amdlasers.com.

The educational and entertaining event will consist of full-day lectures and demonstrations by some of the most world-renowned laser dentists and hygienists, specifically Dr. Glenn van As, Dr. James Jesse and Heidi Christopher, R.D.H.

Read more: Townie and User Group Meeting

From its New Headquarters in West Long Branch, NJ, Lanmark360 is Providing Clients with an Expanded Scope of Strategic Services

West Long Branch, NJ (March 8, 2011) – Lanmark Group, a leading full-service healthcare advertising, marketing, and communications agency recently completed a corporate rebranding, capabilities expansion and relocation to West Long Branch. Re-named as Lanmark360, the agency will now serve its diverse roster of healthcare clients from 804 Broadway, a historically-restored, turn-of-the-century silk mill, known as "The Factory"

According to Lanmark360 owner and President Howard Klein, “Since it was founded in 1977, Lanmark has been continuously expanding its integrated marketing and communications offerings to the healthcare industry. Lanmark360 embodies the closed loop of services we provide, including brand building, demand generation, lead qualification and sales fulfillment.”

Read more: Lanmark Group Rebrands and Relocates Office

MEETS WITH EMPLOYEES AT PREMIER® ON CONCERNS THAT TAX IN HEALTH REFORM BILL PUTS UNFAIR BURDEN ON MANUFACTURERS
Plymouth Meeting, PA – March 7, 2011 – One of the funding mechanisms buried deep within the “Health Care and Education Reconciliation Bill of 2010” is a 2.3% excise tax on medical devices.
Ostensibly, this tax was added to the bill to help fund expanded Medicaid coverage, including universal dental coverage, for a projected 18 million individuals (including six million children) nationwide. That universal dental coverage did not make it into the final version of the bill, however the tax did.
Congressman Jim Gerlach (R‐PA) attended a meeting in early February with a number of his constituents that will be directly impacted by this tax – employees of Premier® Dental and Medical Products ‐‐ to learn about the impact the tax could have on Premier’s and other manufacturers’ ability to maintain staffing levels and remain competitive in an increasingly challenging global marketplace.
Premier staffers had sent personal correspondence to Gerlach explaining the potential damage this legislation could do to their company and the dental products industry as a whole. Congressman Gerlach, a Chester County Republican, earned a seat on the House Ways and Means Committee in December and was appointed to the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee in January.
During the informal give and take sessions, Gerlach told Premier staffers, “We think the medical device tax is particularly burdensome and onerous tax in the legislation last year and we will try to repeal it.” Gerlach added, “I am extremely concerned that imposing an immense new tax on both medical and dental device manufacturers will jeopardize more than 20,000 jobs in Pennsylvania’s thriving biotechnology and life‐sciences sectors."
Gerlach told Premier staffers that there will be a number of hearings held on this issue and that Ways and Means subcommittees will work to develop and introduce smaller, more targeted bills to replace components within the massive bill from last year.
“With a country that is 14 trillion dollars in debt, right now, we cannot afford to continue building on that debt – we need market‐based approaches to deal with these issues,” said Gerlach.
 “We’re heartened to see that Congressmen Gerlach has recognized the negative impact this excise tax will have upon the entire industry, “ said Julie Charlestein, President of Premier® Dental Products.
“This tax puts a massive new burden upon the 2,000 companies in the U.S. that manufacture and supply products and services to oral health professionals and is wildly disproportionate compared to the dental services legislated in the bill.”
Gerlach said, "This new tax will dampen investment and innovation of products that improve patient care. That’s why I am committed to working with my House colleagues to repeal this tax to ensure that Pennsylvania companies, including Premier Dental, remain competitive in global markets.”