MetLife reaches agreement with Institute of Medical Emergency Preparedness

NEW YORK, New York--MetLife, a provider of employee benefits that provides dental plan administration for more than 21 million people, has announced an agreement with the Institute of Medical Emergency Preparedness.

The agreement makes it easier for dentists and their staff to avail themselves of important, potentially life-saving information in preparation for medical emergencies occurring on their premises.

Through a membership arrangement, IMEP--created by doctors to promote safe patient care in the dental setting-- helps dental offices prepare for potential emergencies that could occur while patients are in their care through online continuing education programs and monthly emergency drills.

Through the agreement, MetLife is the only dental carrier able to offer its dental preferred provider organization and dental health maintenance organization providers a discounted membership in IMEP.

"The work that IMEP does to prepare dental offices for medical emergencies is invaluable, and MetLife encourages all of our DPPO and DHMO network providers to take advantage of these services with over 40% discounted membership," said Dr. David Guarrera, vice president, MetLife Dental Products.

"The IMEP membership is a complement to MetLife's Quality initiatives Program, which is dedicated to promoting improved oral health and safe environments for care through education and research. For dental offices, it provides an opportunity to earn continuing education credits for staying on top of the latest research and techniques in the field of dentistry,

"It is exciting to have the opportunity to work with MetLife, which has a long-standing commitment to providing the dental community with quality educational resources, recognized by the American Dental Association and
Academy of General Dentistry," said Dr. John Roberson, IMEP cofounder. "Working with MetLife is a key step to continuing IMEP's mission to making medical emergency preparedness a core competency in dental offices."

According to IMEP, the first 10 minutes following a medical emergency are critical to the individual's chances for survival. The IMEP membership enhances a dental office's preparedness to manage the medical emergency in these crucial moments.

The IMEP continuing education topics focus on the following areas:

* medical emergencies
* airway emergencies and equipment
* anesthesia emergencies
* emergency medications
* basic life support
* advanced cardiovascular life support
* pediatric advanced life support
* emergency response team development
* emergency action planning and documentation

With an IMEP membership, dentists can build a training team with up to 20 members who can participate in 12 monthly mock emergency drills, have online access around the clock to more than 30 medical emergency specialty tests, and can earn up to 53 continuing education credits per year.

For additional information about the IMEP membership discount, dentists can visit www.emergencyactionguide.com/metlife.

For more information, visit www.metlife.com.

To read more about emergency medicine, go to www.dentistryiq.com/index/display/article-display/373146/articles/dental-economics/volume-100/issue-2/features/emergency-medicine.html.

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