Balancing Mission and Business
Safety Net Solutions provides individualized technical assistance that helps oral health safety net programs balance mission and business to better serve their patients.
Safety Net Solutions’ practice management experience, gained through many years of front-line experience in community health business and dental program leadership, provides concrete, actionable strategies for making practices orderly, efficient, predictable — and financially sustainable.
We create individualized strategies for success using the Safety Net Solutions Improvement Model, a combination of program analysis, site surveys and an assessment of operational elements including:
- financial and productivity data
- revenue and expenses
- services
- payer mix
- program leadership
- billing
- operations
- policies
- equipment
- workflow
- culture
We work collaboratively with administrators, dental directors and program staff, and survey not just quantitative and qualitative data, but also emotional and rational information.
The end result is a Practice Enhancement Plan that fits the community dental health program’s unique circumstances with individualized, realistic, achievable and success-oriented strategies.
Safety Net Solutions is led by:
Mark J. Doherty, DMD, MPH, CCHP
Director, Safety Net Solutions
mdoherty@catalystinstitute.org
In his role as Director for Safety Net Solutions, Dr. Doherty is responsible for the overall strategic planning, implementation and evaluation of the Safety Net Solutions program.
From 1979 to 2007, Dr. Doherty served as Director of Oral Health Services at Dorchester House Multi-Service Center where he built a program that includes three separate treatment sites, 18 dental providers, several specialty services, and a staff of more than 40. He currently serves as the Director of Oral Health Policy at Dorchester House, where he develops oral health policy, advises Senior Administration and the Board of Directors on current and proposed federal and state oral health policy changes and initiatives and works with external organizations, institutions and agencies to promote positive oral health policy. Dr. Doherty also directs oral health services at several other facilities, including DotAve, Inc. and the Taunton Public School System, and administers a statewide comprehensive portable program focused on children who are victims of oral health disparities. He serves as a consultant for multiple organizations, including the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Massachusetts Department of Youth Services and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He has appointments at several institutions, including the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Boston University School of Dental Medicine, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine and Lutheran Medical Center.
Dr. Doherty received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of Holy Cross and a Doctor of Dental Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed a residency in general dental practice through the Massachusetts Veterans Administration Hospital and Harvard School of Dental Medicine and was awarded a Master of Public Health from Madison University.
Dori Bingham
Project Manager, Safety Net Solutions
dbingham@catalystinstitute.org
Dori Bingham is the project manager for the Safety Net Solutions program. She oversees all phases of the dental practice assessment process, from data collection to data analysis to the development of findings, recommendations and practice enhancement plans. Dori also offers support to dental programs during the implementation phase of the practice enhancement process, providing sample policies, individualized financial/productivity goals, business plans, job descriptions, coaching and motivation. Dori also coordinates other Safety Net Solutions projects, including strategic plan development, feasibility studies and dental program development.
Prior to joining Catalyst Institute, Dori served for 14 years as Associate Vice President for External Affairs at the Morton Hospital and Medical Center in Taunton, MA. In this role, her key responsibilities included establishing short- and long-range public relations and marketing plans to achieve the hospital’s strategic goals; developing, executing and evaluating public relations and marketing campaigns to enhance overall branding of the hospital and increase consumer awareness of individual programs and services; overseeing the hospital’s community relations program; and performing all managerial functions for the division, including hiring, training, supervision, coaching and performance evaluations, as well as budgetary and accounting activities.
Dori received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Maine in Orono.
Kelli Ohrenberger
Project Manager, Safety Net Systems Improvement
kohrenberger@catalystinstitute.org
Kelli is the project manager for Safety Net Systems Improvement. She is responsible for managing a national project designed to train community oral health leaders in how to use the Safety Net Solutions model to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and financial sustainability of oral health safety net programs.
Prior to joining Catalyst Institute, Kelli spent three years at Morton Hospital and Medical Center in Taunton, MA., where she served as the Coordinator and Interim Director of Public Affairs and Marketing. In this position, she was responsible for implementing marketing and public relations initiatives in fulfillment of the hospital’s strategic goals. As such, she executed marketing campaigns, coordinated special events and created marketing collateral, including a community newsletter that reached over 100,000 households in the hospital’s service area. Kelli also coordinated the hospital’s Community Education Program, increasing the number and types of programs offered, physician and staff involvement and physician referrals. As Interim Director, Kelli led the department for nearly a year and provided management and oversight of staff, projects and programs.
Kelli received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Advertising and Spanish from Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. She also earned a Master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communication from Emerson College in Boston.
