Why ADA / Intelligent Dental Marketing Failed?

Posted on October 6, 2009 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

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The ADA is an Incredible Dinosaur

By Darrell K. Pruitt; DDSpruitt

As a member of the ADA, I am also a part owner in any business venture the leaders of the organization enter into. I’ve observed the loss of my investment in a business deal because my employees made mistakes. As a business owner, it would be simply irresponsible for me to ignore something like this.

The Embarrassing Story  

Do you know what part is missing from this embarrassing story? The ADA has not uttered a word about the ADA/IDM failure… Or, as the ADA Business Enterprise Inc. leaders call it – the ”ADA/idm” failure.

The fact that the two business entities never came to an agreement on what to even call their doomed joint venture reveals a lot about the egos that gummed up the machinery. It’s possible that pride undermined our non-profit/for-profit partnership from the very start. We just don’t know what happened because there are so many possible reasons for this business model to fail. Will loss of ADA members’ investment happen again if the cause is not recognized and eliminated? I think the chances are pretty good that even more embarrassment is on the way. Given the soft environment, it’s only natural.

Over my 27 year career as a dentist, I have met many ADA officials, both employed and elected, on all three levels of the tripartite system of governance – local, state and national. From the topmost quality of character I have witnessed in all but a few politically-empowered and proudly insensitive exceptions, I can assure you that like all major projects of the ADA, the failed ADA/IDM adventure into dental marketing was assembled with nothing but noble intentions and benevolent wishes for ADA members and dental patients – at least from the ADA side. Whether the leaders of the ADA’s new business partner, Intelligent Dental Marketing out of Utah, were dedicated to serving ADA members in a captive market is unlikely. The ADA/IDM business model is sort of like managed care dentistry. When dentists sign contracts that provide them with clients regardless of how they are treated, there is a natural tendency for dentists to become unappreciative of those who pay their bills.

Little Consumer Competition  

The ADA allows Americans to experience what socialism is like in markets where there is no competition for consumers: Professionals such as dentists stop trying to please their patients, and IDM stops trying to please dentists. If IDM was a decent company before the business venture with ADA membership, the ADA ruined them with a sweetheart deal that included protecting them from competition, as well as shielding them from complaints by angry ADA members. And like dental patients with preferred provider lists, ADA members noticed the bad treatment. However, complaints were never made transparent even as more ADA members where signing contracts with ADA/IDM. That is unfair and unethical.

Just Google for Complaints  

Want to see what an embarrassment in situ looks like? Just Google “CareCredit complaints.” ADA-approved CareCredit/GE has a long history of sweetheart deals like the one they made with ADA leaders. Their trail is always marked by complaints. The ADABEI is selling ADA members’ reputations. I just read ADA reporter James Berry’s article highlighting outgoing ADA President Dr. John S. Findley’s address to the House of Delegates that he gave on Friday. The article is titled, “We built our home on a foundation of science and values: Dr. Findley”

http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/pubs/adanews/adanewsarticle.asp?articleid=3771

One free-standing paragraph in the article caught my attention that perhaps exposes a symptom of the pride and secrecy that surrounds the ADA/IDM disaster. In the middle of the article, James Berry offers this cryptic message that was obviously not meant for all members to understand:

“On the Association itself, the president noted that the ADA has undergone significant change in the past year and a half. As problems were discovered and defined, he said, the leadership acted to resolve them.” 

Was the ADA/IDM fiasco one of the problems that was resolved? Did they resolve the problem with CareCredit/GE causing ADA members to be covered by the Red Flags Rule – and not letting members know about it? Did they resolve the problem of data breaches and how they can mean certain bankruptcy for ADA members, even if the members do the right thing?

Possibly  

We just don’t know which problems were resolved, but somehow we should feel much better, now that President Findley got the message out to mid-level ADA leaders who probably know exactly what he is referring to. And, by protecting lower caste members from knowing things they don’t need to know, problems are quietly resolved and the profession’s image is preserved. “Image is everything” – ADA/IDM business slogan.

“Findley for the future”- Dr. John S. Findley’s campaign slogan.

Bingo! We have a match.

We should not forget that before IDM leaders got in way over their heads and started doing foolish things like marketing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) talents they lacked, there has not been a dues increase for a couple of years – in part because of the profits that were churned from ADA/IDM purchases ADA members made. I am certain that the ADA Business Enterprise Inc’s failure breaks the hearts of sincere and devoted leaders in the ADA who would have never recommended going outside the ADA’s Mission Statement had ADA employees been transparent with them. The officials of IDM couldn’t care less. Their part of the venture is much easier to dissolve for the Utah businessmen. They just picked up and walked away. However, the ADA officials have a fiduciary responsibility to members who trusted them. Once again, virtually all of the ADA leaders are just like you and me. Some just got in too deep on our behalf and couldn’t shut the mistake down before members got needlessly hurt.

Officials in other businesses the size of the ADA are held accountable for their mistakes and are not afforded the opportunity to filter communications with the owners because of image concerns. This kind of sweetheart deal for business executives, most of who come from Delta Dental, UnitedHealthcare or both, as in the case of the new executive director, Dr. Kathleen T. O’Loughlan, occurs only in the ADA and to a lesser extent in the US government and dental insurance industry.

Assessment

The state of the ADA is not nearly as rosy as Dr. Findley would have us believe. I think we have all seen authoritarian leaders re-write history. The ADA is an incredible dinosaur.Business can be ugly in the highly competitive land of the free. If businesses don’t take risks, we cannot move forward. For that reason, mistakes are expected. But never forget. Owners expect to be told about them.

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Journal of the American Dental Association [Letter to the Editor]

Posted on July 28, 2009 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

ADA Image Tarnished?

[By Darrell K. Pruitt; DDSpruitt]

Dear Editor,  

This is a sincere letter which I am sure you will agree should be published in the October 2009 edition of the JADA. Today is July 19, 2009. I am allowing for the six weeks minimum time it requires for letters to appear in print following their selection for publication. It will be posted on the Internet immediately. In spite of this, I trust you will eventually agree to publish it in spite of your archaic rules. Otherwise, by November, history could show that the editor of the JADA arguably denied representation of dental patients’ interests at a most critical time in the history of the profession. That would be regrettable for your own professional reputation as well as for the JADA’s. As an ADA member, if my concerns are ignored, I will hold you publicly accountable for an explanation for a long time.

Public Laundry

From now on, we will agree to wash our laundry in public because otherwise it doesn’t always come clean. You can call the pressure I bring unprofessional if you want, but following the ADA News’ public exhibition of their shoddy ethics this week, it would be foolish to use my methods as an excuse to deny my access to membership. As I am certain you are aware, there were three revisions of “ADA/idm to phase out service” on ADA News Online (7/10, 7/13 and 7/16). I not only welcome a wide-open public discussion about ethics in journalism with representatives of the JADA, but I encourage it. We both know that the ADA needs clean laundry now more than ever before in its history.

ADA Business Enterprises, Inc.

For members who haven’t heard, the 2 ½ year old joint venture of our ADA Business Enterprises, Inc. (ADABEI) with Intelligent Dental Marketing – a Utah-based private business – fell apart in late spring of this year. Months later, our ADA leaders are still less than transparent with membership about what went wrong. I’ve been in business long enough to know that if mistakes by employees are not revealed and discussed, they are bound to happen again and again. And, it’s not like the leaders of the ADA were not warned. They just didn’t take heed. By late 2007, many knowledgeable people involved in the dental industry easily recognized the faults in the partnership between our non-profit professional organization and a for-profit Utah advertising company. In hindsight, anyone can see that ADA/IDM’s slogan, “Image is everything,” clearly betrays an attitude inconsistent with both the mission of the ADA and the Hippocratic Oath. Nevertheless, even the spirit of the slogan was regretfully adopted by the leaders of the ADA’s Business Enterprises, Inc. Now it is the image of the entire ADA that is suffering the damage.

ADABEI

I personally began questioning the accountability of the tricky ADA/IDM business model over two years ago when the profits from ADABEI had officials excited about avoiding the need to raise membership dues last year. Not unexpectedly, in the atmosphere of euphoria, nobody in Chicago wanted to acknowledge the concerns of a handful of alert members. We were cast aside as troublemakers. So how critical is the risk? With massive, unprecedented health care legislation imminent, this is the worst time imaginable for our stoic, image-conscious officers to lead us to nation-wide embarrassment.

Following the Money

The surrender to such temptations for leaders of non-profit organizations is not unprecedented. Do you know why the dues for the American Association of Retired People (AARP) have been kept so low? Not unlike the ADA, the non-profit AARP reaps profits from insurance policies and other products that its leaders sell to membership – even using misleading ads in AARP dues-supported publications. However, unlike dues money, vendor “kickbacks” don’t depend on accountability to members. A few years ago, the profits derived from agreements with vendors predictably became the lifeblood for AARP’s self-perpetuating bureaucracy – eventually influencing their lobbying efforts. Since non-profits like the AARP and the ADA are traditionally respected by lawmakers who like huge campaign donations, a non-profit entity’s lobbyists can be tempted to quietly represent vendors’ interests at members’ expense. Sometimes they get caught.

Lost Confidence

Almost a year ago, the AARP lost valuable member confidence when the organization was forced to suspend sales of “limited benefit” health plans backed by UnitedHealth Group (of Ingenix fame). Sen. Chuck Grassley said the plans which leave policyholders vulnerable to tens of thousands of dollars in costs were sold by the AARP to naïve and trusting members using misleading marketing tricks – not unlike those used in the ADA’s promotion of ADA/IDM. Sen. Grassley sent a detailed letter to CEO Bill Novelli demanding answers to questions about health insurance plans promoted to over a million dues-paying AARP members. Grassley told USA Today reporter Julie Appleby that “Insurance is supposed to limit your exposure to the potentially high cost of a serious illness and these plans do the opposite.” (Nov 7 2008).

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-11-07-aarp-insurance_N.htm

Is AARP-level accountability as good as it gets?

I say no. Attention ADA members – It is my opinion that our leaders are losing the control of our professional organization. The recent failure of ADA/IDM isn’t the first glaring sign of trouble in Headquarters. Over a year ago, the executive director, Dr. James Bramson, was suddenly fired with no explanation. In fact, then President Dr. Mark Feldman commanded that the reasons for the firing will not be disclosed. Obediently, ADA leaders have so far maintained firm control of the top secret information which if released could somehow endanger dental patients (?). Because Bramson’s severance pay came from my dues and not out of Dr. Feldman’s pocket, I think I deserve to know more details. Otherwise, this mistake could happen again and again.

The ADA/IDM disaster is also not the only ADABEI embarrassment I see on the horizon. It is my opinion that CareCredit is also showing signs of silent desperation. On July 9, the officials of the wholly-owned ADA subsidiary purchased an ad on dentalblogs.com titled “Press Release: CareCredit Adds 24-Month, No-Interest [sic] Payment Plan” (no byline).

http://www.dentalblogs.com/archives/administrator/press-release-carecredit-adds-24-month-no-interst-payment-plan/

Even though I approve of the benevolence in the idea of extending credit to those with worsening dental problems – especially during these hard financial times for patients – the anonymous CareCredit (ADA) representative who posted the ad failed to respond to my timely and important question: “If the Red Flags Rule is not delayed for the third time in three weeks, how will it affect those who offer Care Credit?”

Assessment

Nor did he or she respond to my follow up response on July 13. “On July 9 at 4:54 pm, I submitted a sincere question concerning how the Red Flags Rules will affect ADA members who sign up for CareCredit. Instead of posting it with the promise of an answer, you regretfully chose to censor an ADA member. Today, July 13, I have a second and third question: Why did you ignore my first one and who is your boss?”

Conclusion

So far, I’m still waiting for responses to all three questions. I trust you will treat my concerns with more respect, Editor.

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ADA / IDM Breakup – You Heard it Here First

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

Will CareCredit be the Next ADA Subsidiary to Fail?

I saw a warning sign last week.

By Darrell K. Pruitt; DDS pruitt

My aggressive writing hobby has understandably brought me in hard contact with public relations people whose job is to insulate good ol’ boys from accountability – even if it means taking hits for the team and staining their reputations. Let’s face the fact we all of us involved in public relations know but don’t dare discuss: Depending on the ethics of one’s employer, PR professionals are sometimes used up like expendable pawns. And avoiding bylines for press releases no longer shields anyone from accountability.

I often silently stalk PR employees (Gasp!) on the Internet who work for sleazy companies just to better understand them. I’ve discovered that it is not hard to find and exploit the weaknesses of those whose heart isn’t behind selling their employer’s product. Sometimes all it takes is a fistful of transparency to cause defenseless representatives to completely shut up, and that alone makes our neighborhood safer. Committee-approved methods of evasion are as simple-minded as committees, so it doesn’t take long to figure them out – exposing the shameful ethics of those who sign off on the use of lame, institutional trickery.

For example, here’s a very popular, traditional PR trick: If a huge business entity such as the ADA has bad news they can no longer keep secret from customers, professional PR-types will advise their bosses to post bad news on a Friday to soften the blow. When traditional leaders find that they can no longer sidestep accountability, delaying accountability until a busy news day is the next best thing one can purchase. Even though the tricks seem simple, there are people who study evasion science as part of obtaining a degree in marketing.

So how good is the ADA’s PR team? How much time did ADA members’ employees buy for leaders before they had to quietly acknowledge an expensive failure?

On July 10, a Friday, “ADA/idm to phase out service” was posted on ADA News Online without a byline. (Another PR trick: When the ADA posts an orphan without a name, it means someone is ashamed of the bastard.)

http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/pubs/adanews/adanewsarticle.asp?articleid=3655

“ADA Business Enterprises, Inc. (ADABEI), a wholly owned ADA subsidiary, announced today that ADA Intelligent Dental Marketing (ADAidm) of Salt Lake City, one of its joint venture companies, is no longer able to provide marketing services to its customers due to significant production and operational difficulties.”

Now the ADA must refund money to members in a depressed market. Could this embarrassment for our professional organization have been quietly avoided instead of delayed and magnified? I personally started seeing clues of CEO Trajan King’s reticence long ago, and warned ADA leaders in Chicago about my concerns. Nobody ever responded to my numerous, sincere warnings.

These are highly critical times on Capitol Hill and our patients trust us to represent their welfare. Dentists are their last hope, because there is nobody else who cares. Practicing dentists are solely responsible for assuring the benevolence of our niche market, and we are losing control publicly. Disasters like the ADA/IDM make the ADA look foolish to Congress, and word gets around fast on the Internet.

This morning, I read an article posted on The NY Times titled “Study Measures the Chatter of the News Cycle, “ written by Steve Lohr.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/technology/internet/13influence.html?_r=1

Researchers at Cornell used powerful computers and sophisticated algorithms to accomplish an unprecedented analysis of news articles and comments on the Web during the 2008 presidential campaign. They studied the characteristics of the news cycle by scanning 1.6 million mainstream media sites and blogs for repeated phrases and tracking the history of their appearances.

Lohr writes: “The researchers’ data points to an evolving model of news media. While most news flowed from the traditional media to the blogs, the study found that 3.5 percent of story lines originated in the blogs and later made their way to traditional media.”

The study also shows that traditional news outlets are still quicker than blogs by 2.5 hours. I should now point out that the Cornell study was performed using data from very popular, huge news items collected during a presidential election – not hidden, niche news like dentistry’s.

If you are involved in the dental industry, where are you more likely to read time-sensitive news about our profession first? In an ADA publication, or from D. Kellus Pruitt; DDS?

Whereas traditional media is 2.5 hours quicker with popular topics, I scooped traditional ADA News Online by three weeks when I posted “ADA/idm – A bad union after all?” on the PennWell forum.

http://community.pennwelldentalgroup.com/forum/topics/adaidm-a-bad-union-after-all

So what about the warning sign I saw concerning CareCredit – a wholly-owned subsidiary of the ADA?

When Trajan King, former CEO of the defunct ADA/IDM partnership refused to acknowledge my questions, I immediately suspected something was terribly wrong with the union of my non-profit professional organization and his for-profit Utah advertisement company. Six months later, my fears were confirmed. Now then, I hope it grabs someone’s attention that I see the same warning signs coming from the ADA’s CareCredit business. Note this date: July 13, 2009.

On Thursday, July 9, CareCredit purchased a press release on dentalblogs.com: “CareCredit Adds 24-Month, No-Interst [sic] Payment Plan” (no byline).

http://www.dentalblogs.com

Since dental problems only get worse, I consider the idea of extending credit to dental patients is a benevolent thought during these hard financial times. I also say that the offer appears to have been put together out of generosity and not greed like the ADA/IDM disaster. However, at 4:54 pm on the same day that CareCredit’s press release was posted, I submitted a difficult question for the anonymous author of the piece who works PR for CareCredit – and is an ADA employee.

“If the Red Flags Rule is not delayed for the third time in three weeks, how will it affect those who offer Care Credit?”

I was given the hopeful response “Your comment is awaiting moderation,” but days later there is no sign that my question is being considered at all. Please, oh please ask yourself: What could CareCredit leaders be hiding and how much will it end up costing ADA membership?

I will not be ignored by anyone. Today, I submitted two follow-up questions on dentalblogs.com. I considered warning the anonymous moderator that this is being simulposted on other blogs, as well as described on Twitter, but then I thought, why spoil the fun? Let the leaders of the ADA Business Enterprises, Inc. (ADABEI) get word of my e-Attack from their colleagues. Won’t they be surprised!

Oh, and for those who are wondering what happened to ADA/IDM CEO Trajan King – he quit.

Dear Dentalblogs.com moderator:

On July 9 at 4:54 pm, I submitted a sincere question concerning how the Red Flags Rule will affect ADA members who sign up for CareCredit. Instead of posting it with the promise of an answer, you regretfully chose to censor an ADA member. Today, July 13, I have a second and third question: Why did you ignore my first one and who is your boss?

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