DENTAL PROFESSIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE CHARTER
I. MISSION
The Dental Professional Advisory Committee (DePAC)provides advice and consultation to the Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service on issues related to oral health programs and professional practices of USPHS dentists. The DePAC provides similar assistance to the USPHS Chief Dental Officer (CDO) and, upon request, to USPHS dental program directors.
II. RELATIONSHIP OF THE DEPAC TO THE UNITED STATES PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE (USPHS)
In carrying out its responsibilities, DePAC operates in a staff capacity. It does not substitute for line management, or in any way exercise the prerogatives of the operating programs. While DePAC members are chosen from the respective PHS agencies and organizations, they neither represent agency management nor speak for the agency. They are knowledgeable dental health professionals who represent a cross section of the interests, concerns, and responsibilities of other dental professionals in agencies and organizations staffed by PHS personnel.
III. OBJECTIVES
The DePAC functions in a resource and advisory capacity to assist in the development, coordination, and evaluation of activities related to its professional discipline in the PHS within the specific objectives of:
(1) Identifying and facilitating resolution of issues of concern as they relate to PHS dental professional areas and the respective professional personnel.
(2) Assessing PHS personnel needs and assisting in meeting those needs through activities in recruitment, training, utilization, and recognition of dentists.
(3) Developing position papers, statistical reports, and or guidelines where appropriate, to advise and comment on matters relating to the personnel issues and professional practices of the discipline.
(4) Promoting the development and utilization of dental professionals by the PHS and other Government programs.
(5) Promoting cooperation and communication among dental professionals and other health professionals.
(6) Promoting all aspects of oral health throughout the agencies and programs of the PHS.
(7) Providing liaison among professional disciplines within and among PHS components, and advice and consultation to the agency heads and operating programs upon requests.
IV. FUNCTIONS
In carrying out its broad mission and objectives, the functions of the DePAC shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
(1) Provide general professional advice and recommendations:
(a) Review and comment on issues referred to the DePAC by the Surgeon General, Chief Dental Officer, agency heads, and/or program heads.
(b) Deliberate issues, develop findings, and present recommendations to the Surgeon General and/or the CDO.
(c) Provide advice on the professional aspects of the category, i.e., new technologies, regulations, curricula, roles, etc. through the use of the Listserve, newsletter, and other innovative technologies.
(d) Provide advice on ethical and professional standard issues.
(e) Review and provide recommendations concerning proposed or needed changes to appointment standards and professional requirements, i.e., licensure, required to maintain high quality staff.
(f) Review and advise the CDO and Surgeon General concerning requests for licensure waivers.
(2) Act as primary resources for career development:
(a) Advise on Commissioned Corps (CC)/Civil Service (CS) practices concerning dental career development.
(b) Advise on operating practices concerning the appropriate/optimum use of personnel designed to best meet PHS needs and the needs of the individual.
(c) Advise on issues related to PHS promotion practices and, for commissioned officers, assimilation into the Regular Corps for the dental category.
(d) Formulate criteria for the selection of candidates for training and/or other career development options.
(e) Identify both continuing and long-term intramural/extramural education needs and identify and recommend training and/or experience opportunities designed to meet these needs.
(f) Review applications for long-term training, assess appropriateness of requested training in terms of individual and service needs, and provide recommendations for the approval/disapproval of such request
(3) Provide advice and assistance on staffing issues:
(a) Assess and project need for dental staffing levels, both Civil Service and Commissioned Corps, throughout the PHS.
(b) Provide advice on the goals, objectives, and procedures designed to meet PHS staffing needs.
(c) Provide guidance for recruitment to the short-term student affiliation programs (COSTEP, summer students, etc.).
(d) Develop, and/or review and critique, category specific PHS recruitment materials, procedures, and programs.
(e) Help establish networks of current, as well as former PHS professionals, who can assist and facilitate recruitment activities.
(f) Provide guidance to formally identified PHS recruiters concerning the recruitment of qualified candidates to the Dental category and related civil service positions.
(g) Assist in the development of orientation materials for newly hired dentists and provide advice/recommendations concerning orientation programs.
(4) Communicate and encourage appropriate use of awards/recognition systems:
(a) Identify, establish, and help administer special professional discipline specific awards.
(b) Maintain cognizance of the existing Civil Service and commissioned officer award programs and opportunities.
(5) Serve as a communication link and information resource:
(a) Communicate to CS/CC dental professional staff important information concerning professional, ethical, and technical issues.
(b) Encourage individual membership in, and involvement with, dental societies and professional organizations in order to promote open communications with nonfederal colleagues.
(c) Ensure the distribution of minutes and/or other materials developed by the DePAC to the extent possible and appropriate to CS/CC. Ensure the availability of DePAC minutes to other PACs and the Office of the Surgeon General through the DePAC website.
This list of functions is not all-inclusive. The DePAC has the responsibility to identify and add functions as necessary to carry out its objectives. Such functions shall be in concert with the overall mission of the DePAC.
V. MEMBERSHIP
(1) Basic Eligibility Requirement: Must be Full-Time Civil Service (CS) or Commissioned Corps (CC) dentists and, at the time they are nominated and appointed to the PAC, and during their entire DePAC term must meet the eligibility requirements for initial appointment to their respective professional category and personnel system.
(2) Staff from the Office of the Surgeon General and the Division of Commissioned Personnel (DCP) may not serve on the DePAC as a voting member.
(3) Size of the PAC: The DePAC shall have no fewer than seven voting members and
no more than twenty voting members.
(4) Organizational Representation: In order to provide the range of experiences and perspectives necessary for addressing issues before the DePAC, every effort must be made to have the broadest representation possible among all agencies that are routinely staffed by Commissioned Corps Officers of the dental category.
(5) Geographic Considerations: The DePAC will have, as voting members, at least two individuals whose regular duty station is geographically removed by a distance of 75 or more miles from the Washington Metropolitan Area.
(6) Gender and Minority Representation: Every effort will be made to assure that the DePAC does not consist (1) entirely of men and women or (2) entirely of one race, as long as no selection is made to the DePAC on the basis of gender or race.
(7) Personnel System: The DePAC will not consist entirely of CC or entirely of CS personnel.
(8) Professional Seniority: The DePAC will have as a voting member a minimum of one individual who at the time of their appointment to the PAC has less than 5 years of professional experience.
(9) Experience: The DePAC will have either as voting members (in the event that the incumbent becomes ineligible due to PAC term limits) or as ad hoc members, chief dental officers of each major program including, but not limited to, the Bureau of Prisons, Indian Health Service, and Coast Guard.
(10) Ex Officio Members (non-voting): The Chief Dental Officer is an ex-officio member of the DePAC [see IX (1)]. The former chair may serve one additional year as an ex-officio member of the DePAC [see VIII (3)]. The DePAC may identify other individuals and request that they serve as ex-officio members.
(11) Liaison Members (non-voting): The DePAC may identify individuals to serve in a liaison capacity to provide information or assist with activities, e.g., staff from the OSG or DCP.
VI. NOMINATION PROCESS
(1) Annually, DePAC will solicit, through newsletters and other appropriate means, nominations for vacancies on the PAC from all CC and CS individuals in the dental category. Self-nominations will be solicited. The DePAC and the Chief Dental Officer will identify, by name, those highly qualified to fill anticipated vacancies. The name(s) so identified, including a complete listing of self nominations and other nominees, will be transmitted by the Chief Dental officer to the nominee's respective agency administrator who may endorse the nominee(s) recommended or provide alternate or additional nominations meeting the general representation requirements demonstrated by the original nominee(s). The agency administrator's response will be reviewed by the DePAC and a final list of nominees, including a listing of self nominations, will be sent by the Chief Dental Officer to the Surgeon General for approval.
(2) This nomination process shall be conducted so that the final nomination package is available for the Surgeon General’s consideration no less than 60 calendar days prior to the expiration of the regular term of the member whose term will expire.
(3) Should the need arise to fill an unexpired term, the same process as used for regular term appointments will be followed except that the nomination package will be conveyed to the Surgeon General as soon as possible for action.
VII. TERM OF APPOINTMENT
(1) The term of appointment for a voting member will be 3 years. Nominations will be such that they will be staggered over the 3-year term so that approximately one-third of the DePAC will begin on the first day of the calendar year and end on the last day of the same calendar year (January 1 to December 31).
(2) Once a DePAC member has accumulated a lifetime total of 6 years of service as a voting member on the DePAC, they are not eligible for reappointment. Terms of office may be served consecutively at the discretion of the DePAC.
(3) Alternates: Cognizant of the demands of the member's primary work
responsibilities, and the DePAC's need to conduct business, the DePAC has the option of establishing procedures to allow each voting member to appoint and inform the Chairperson of a single individual who can serve as his/her alternate. Such alternates shall have voting privileges when serving in the place of a primary member. It is the responsibility of the primary DePAC member to keep the alternate fully informed and knowledgeable of the DePAC's activities. Any agency clearance or approval requirements for travel/per diem will have to be handled within the agency by the primary DePAC member.
(4) Attendance: Any member of the DePAC who frequently misses meeting without just cause can, at the discretion of the DePAC, be asked to voluntarily resign from the DePAC or the DePAC can initiate a request to the Surgeon General to terminate said membership and so inform the Agency Administrator.
VIII. CHAIRPERSON
(1) Chairpersons will be elected by the voting membership of the DePAC.
(2) Term of the Chairperson: The Chairperson will serve a 1- year term and may be re-elected for 1 additional year. The DePAC may choose to elect the Chairperson for one 2- year term with no opportunity for re-election to that post.
(3) Term of Appointment: If the term of Chairperson coincides with the expiration of that individual's membership on the DePAC, the former chair may serve one additional year as an ex officio member of the DePAC, provided the agency head is informed and concurs with the extension, unless reappointed as a regular member per the provisions of Section (VII).
IX. CHIEF DENTAL OFFICER (CDO)
(1) Membership on DePAC: The CDO shall be a non-voting, ex-officio member of the DePAC.
(2) Relationship with DePAC: All output of the DePAC, be it correspondence, reports, minutes of its proceedings, or other, must be transmitted through the CDO who, as he/she deems appropriate, may provide concurring or non-concurring comments but may not stop or unduly delay such transmittals.
X. OPERATIONS AND PROCEDURES
(1) DePAC shall develop its own internal operations and procedures, and these shall include, at a minimum, the following:
(a) Operational year: The beginning of the DePAC operational year is January 1.
(b) Frequency of meetings: Meeting will be held once per quarter at a minimum or more frequently as the DePAC deems appropriate.
(c) Agenda: A meeting agenda and appropriate background material is to be made available to the members.
(2) Records and Reporting:
(a) Minutes of each DePAC meeting will be developed, and approved by the DePAC members.
(b) Minutes and reports of the DePAC will be distributed in accord with item IV (5) FUNCTIONS.
(c) The DePAC must establish a system to maintain a permanent file of the official minutes and reports of the DePAC.
(3) Executive Secretary: The Executive secretary must be a member of the category but is not required to be a voting DePAC member.
(4) Quorum: A quorum consists of 50 percent of the DePAC's voting membership. An alternate attending in lieu of the member shall be counted in determining the quorum requirement.
(5) Voting: Where voting is required or appropriate, i.e. election of the Chair, action will be determined by the simple majority of those voting members present.
(6) Committees: Where a PAC elects to establish standing or ad hoc committees,
said membership may include non-PAC members provided that the chairperson is a voting member of the DePAC.
Revision January 2002