Support our online development, and advance our onground research initiatives in free market economics, as we seek to showcase the brightest Next-Gen minds.
THE ME-P DISCLAIMER: Posts, comments and opinions do not necessarily represent iMBA, Inc., but become our property after submission. Copyright © 2006 to-date. iMBA, Inc allows colleges, universities, medical and financial professionals and related clinics, hospitals and non-profit healthcare organizations to distribute our proprietary essays, photos, videos, audios and other documents; etc. However, please review copyright and usage information for each individual asset before submission to us, and/or placement on your publication or web site. Attestation references, citations and/or back-links are required. All other assets are property of the individual copyright holder.
Dental Managed Care [DMC] is Substandard Care – count on it!
By D. Kellus Pruitt DDS
Have you noticed most employer-sponsored dental plans boast savings of 30% and more on dental care, without mentioning how unsustainable discounts harms their employees?
Dental Managed Care [DMC] is substandard care: Discount dentistry, like virtually all underfunded handwork, has always been substandard … Or perhaps someone would like to argue that intricate surgery in sensitive mouths of nervous patients is improved when rushed.
Discounts are popular
Those who market obscure, hard to understand managed care plans to clueless, perhaps non-caring employers, do not control the quality of the discounted dentistry they sell.
Think about it: Discount dentistry without quality control. Can you think of a worse idea in healthcare?
What’s more, not one Delta Dental, Humana or Cigna executive can be held accountable for causing harm to equally clueless dental patients through underfinanced dentistry they sell. Employees who must choose their dentists from preferred provider lists have forfeited freedom of choice, whether they realize it or not. Their underfunded, substandard dentistry is subsidized by tax payers as a special tax-free benefit, benefiting unaccountable third parties most of all.
For example:
- Want to know what you get with managed care dentistry? Quick prophys.
- How many of you get your teeth cleaned in 30 minutes or less? Do they feel clean?
One Hour
l always allowed my hygienists 1 hour to clean patients’ teeth simply because it often takes that long to do the job right – regardless what insurers say hygienists’ time is worth. The economic climate is tough on fee-for-service.
As I am considering signing on as a preferred provider – not because I want to – I notice that the fees allowed by insurers do not cover the hourly rate of most hygienists… unless they can “clean” teeth, take x-rays, take blood pressure, go over patients’ medical history, allow time for the doctor to do a quick exam and turn around the room in less than 30 minutes.
***
***
Assessment
The motto of my practice is “Dentistry Unhurried.” I don’t want to compete in a race to the bottom which uninformed dental patients always lose.
Conclusion
Your thoughts and comments on this ME-P are appreciated. Feel free to review our top-left column, and top-right sidebar materials, links, URLs and related websites, too. Then, subscribe to the ME-P. It is fast, free and secure.
Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com
OUR OTHER PRINT BOOKS AND RELATED INFORMATION SOURCES:
- PRACTICES: www.BusinessofMedicalPractice.com
- HOSPITALS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466558731
- CLINICS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439879900
- ADVISORS: www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.org
- FINANCE: Financial Planning for Physicians and Advisors
- INSURANCE: Risk Management and Insurance Strategies for Physicians and Advisors
- Dictionary of Health Economics and Finance
- Dictionary of Health Information Technology and Security
- Dictionary of Health Insurance and Managed Care
***
Share this:
Filed under: Ethics, Health Insurance, Practice Management, Pruitt's Platform | Tagged: Cigna, D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, delta dental, dental managed care, Dentistry Unhurried, Humana |
The Leading Business Education Network for Doctors, Financial Advisors and Health Industry Consultants 
Transparency rules UPDATE 2.7.17
[Transparency rules … eventually]
How is dental managed care (Delta Dental, BCBS, Humana) like dental EHRs (Dentrix, Eaglesoft, and the ADA-endorsed The Dental Record™)?
Nobody can defend their cost and safety – not even vendors and other conflicted third-parties with power and/or profit at stake.
In fact, Delta Dental, as well as the American Dental Association, continue to encourage dentists to purchase dental software without responding to increasingly important consumer concerns about the cost and safety of EHRs compared to paper dental records.
What should that tell dentists and patients – the principals in dentalcare?
Dr. Pruitt
LikeLike
What did I tell you? Delta Dental is immoral, and now the world knows
“Dentists are feeling a sharp pain, thanks to Delta Dental” By Priyanka Dayal McCluskey for The Boston Globe, February 8, 2017.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2017/02/07/changes-delta-dental-prompt-outcry-from-dentists/Do8uCALVw2YOktIQXIj6LI/story.html#comments
McCluskey: “A plan by the state’s largest dental insurer to sell new low-cost coverage has sparked an outcry among dentists, who fear the move will cut their incomes and force them to rush through appointments.
Delta Dental of Massachusetts, which has about 2.2 million members, says the move is necessary to attract budget-conscious businesses and consumers amid a slowdown in its growth. But dentists are fighting back, arguing that the savings will come at their expense — and may prompt patients to change dentists.”
There are already 50 comments following the Boston Globe article, and ALL are negative towards Delta Dental’s sleazy business practices.
Delta Dental is immoral. Delta Dental has always been immoral
The truth is, Delta Dental sells discounted dentistry to captive clients performed by the lowest bidders without quality control, and not a single Delta Dental official can be held accountable for causing harm to uninformed dental patients because of under-financed healthcare.
For example, Delta pays less for cleanings than hygienists make an hour. And that is why Delta customers only get 30 minute cleanings. As you know, I schedule an hour for cleanings simply because a good job cannot be done in 30 minutes.
The most insidious crime? Delta’s dentists are unlikely to be honest with patients about the harm caused by cutting corners to make a profit from unsustainable 30% discounts.
Remember when Washington Dental Service (Delta Dental) CEO James Dwyer revealed what Delta executives really think of dentists, Doc? I’ve written about this before:
A few years ago, KING 5 News in Seattle featured, “Executive pay soars as one of WA state’s largest non-profits makes cuts” – an investigative report about Delta Dental affiliate, Washington Dental Service, written by Chris Ingalls.
http://legacy.king5.com/story/news/local/investigations/2014/08/03/13111760/
According to Ingalls, WDS CEO James Dwyer earned $1.2 million in 2010 – topping off a 45 percent pay increase he has enjoyed for the previous 5 years…. Even as he made across-the-board 15 percent cuts to the fees Delta Dental pays their clients’ dentists in Washington. “WDS said the cuts allowed it to reduce the premiums it charges employers for dental insurance, a move that makes its service more competitive in the marketplace.”
When asked how paying less for Delta clients’ dental care affects their dentists, CEO James Dwyer, who earned $1.2 million in 2010, responded: “They’ve lived in a wonderful, insulated world. God love ‘em. But it’s changing.” Then, just to aggravate me even more, CEO James Dwyer (remember that name) suggested, “Number one, they could start by working 5 days a week.” That dude is a sweetheart, isn’t he, Doc?
James Dwyer is a CEO who takes $1.2 million healthcare dollars from clueless Americans by selling rushed dentistry at discounted fees with no quality control. He is just one more millionaire Delta official who cannot be held accountable to the dental patients they harm. And after cutting payments to his clients’ dentists, James Dwyer has the nerve to suggest that they start working even harder for him. Meanwhile, the market-dominating non-profit escapes taxes its for-profit competitors can’t.
Seattle dentist Dr. Chris Pickel reveals what I have warned for years: “It’s the patient that loses.” He adds, “We’ve basically had to figure a way we can compress patient time.” He says, “It’s something we don’t like to do. We want to spend time with people. We like to spend time educating them.” Dr. Pickel didn’t mention that dentistry is also intricate handwork performed in sensitive mouths to exacting tolerances. As anyone can imagine, dentistry cannot be rushed without painful consequences… but rushed it is by Delta Dental’s unsustainable fee schedule. Ethics aren’t free.
When Delta officials treat their clients’ dentists badly, it harms everyone – except CEO James Dwyer. He gets bonuses.
D. Kellus Pruitt DDS
LikeLike
Dentistry
Child’s death highlights effort to reduce risks of dental surgery.
http://healthjournalism.org/blog/2017/07/childs-death-highlights-effort-to-reduce-risks-of-dental-surgery/
The unexpected political power of dentists.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-unexpected-political-power-of-dentists/ar-BBDxjnY?li=BBnbcA1
Mary
LikeLike
TEETH
The high cost of bad teeth.
Dr. David Marcinko MBA
LikeLike
Thanks for this article.
Just a regular gal from Anoka Co., MN.
On MA for 5 yrs. Annual teeth cleaning has been substandard and just as you pointed out – quick, like ok, that’s all we will do for an MA coverage payment. Hey, just tell me this so I can decide to pay out of pocket for complete care for my health.
LINDA BURNS
LikeLike