Education Earns A+ in 2016

December 2016

Education Earns A+ in 2016

CONVERGE 2016 and the Webinar Series offered timely, stellar and diverse professional development content designed to help members overcome industry challenges and succeed in the dental benefits market.

CONVERGE

CONVERGE 2016 delivered the highest caliber professional development and networking opportunities available to the dental benefits industry featuring insightful educational sessions and informative exhibits in the Discovery Zone.

Five general sessions set the tone for the conference:

• Scott Christopher opened CONVERGE with “The Levity Effect” highlighting case studies highlighting how the proper use of humor can increase productivity and improve work environments.

• A panel of industry experts presented “Technology, Terminology and Care Delivery,” offering a critical look at the impact and importance of these three factors on the dental benefits industry.

• An overview of employer survey findings provided timely food for thought for attendees of the afternoon general session, “Employer Survey Implications for Dental,” featuring panelists from leading industry plans.

• Thursday morning began with a look at possible future regulatory and legislative challenges.

• Kim Lear of Inlay Insights, closed CONVERGE with “The New Consumer,” which focused on generational differences that impact purchasing decisions.

CONVERGE also offered sessions in three tracks: Business Development, Government Relations and Professional Relations, such as:

• Direction of Public Programs
• Challenges to Medicare Advantage Plans
• Dental Networks and Directories
• Medical Loss Ratios and Actuarial Value
• Customer Trust: The Guide to Building Your Greatest Asset
• Pay-Per-Click Marketing
• Accelerating Innovation with Mergers & Acquisitions
• How DSOs Fit Into Your Strategic Plan
• Impacts of Diagnostic & Procedure Coding
• Dental and Vision: Better Together
• Current Trends in Utilization
• The Medicaid MegaReg

To enhance your experience, CONVERGE 2016 also offered an online app featuring details about the sessions, speakers, handouts, sponsors, exhibitors, attendees and awards. A total of 436 attendees (or 93% of attendees) used the app for more than 19.2K minutes, including 3.53K user contributions and 18.6K engagements (total actions such as viewing session descriptions, handouts, and speaker or attendee profiles).

Key awards were presented to long-time NADP leaders. Long-time volunteer and former NADP Board member Kirk Andrews (retired from UnitedHealthcare) received the Gabryl Award. Amanda Bjornson (Principal) Communications WorkGroup chair received the Don Mayes Leadership Award, as well as nine volunteers were presented Star Awards during the Opening General Session.

Mark your calendar now to attend CONVERGE 2017, September 25-28, Atlanta Marriott Marquis. Watch for details in future editions of this newsletter.

Webinars

In additional to educational webinars, the 2016 Webinar series offered a wide array topics, appealing to multiple industry disciplines, including a three-part mini-series, members’ only briefings, and sponsored webinars.

Educational Webinars

• Post-Election Implications on Dental and No-Regret Strategies for Carriers
• Post-Election Impacts on Dental Benefits
• Medicaid Mega Reg: A Webinar Critical for Medicaid, CHIP, and Commercial Dental Payers
• Product Positioning for a Consumer Driven Market
• Competing on the Exchanges: Narrowing Your Dental Networks
• Dental in ACOs
• Developments and Activities to Advance Oral Health in Medicaid
• Private Exchanges – Leavitt Partners
• Best Practices for Paper Claims Processing – Information Capture Solutions

Mini-Series

The mini-series featured presentations by Randy Dean, designed to help member improve productivity. Webinars included:

• Taming the E-mail Beast
• Optimizing Your MS Outlook
• Smart Phone Success & Terrific Tablets

Member Briefing (free to members)    

Big Data

Sponsored Webinars

• One and Done: Bringing Dental Provider Credentialing Into the 21st Century, sponsored by SkyGen USA
• Paper Dental Claim Processing: Best Practices in Action, sponsored by Information Capture Solutions
• Multimodal Digital Dental Outreach, sponsored by HealthCrowd

Recordings of all of the 2016 Educational Webinars are available in the Knowledge Center on NADP.org. Details about the 2017 series will be announced in a future edition of this newsletter. Stay tuned!