News

As noted recently in the Health Care Reform Open Forum in Dental Interact (DI),
the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange (MHBE) is currently planning for
enhancements to the Exchange that would support the purchase of
stand-alone dental plans. As background, in 2014 the MHBE adopted
technical code from Connecticut’s Exchange to replace its then-failing
Exchange IT system. The replacement code chosen could not support the
purchase of standalone dental plans. NADP, the Maryland Dental Alliance
and dental carriers have urged Maryland Exchange officials to implement
systems that would add this functionality as soon as possible.

The
announcement of adding dental was included in an IT update presented to
the Exchange board mid-March. The MHBE is currently in the “Planning and
Requirements” stage for enhancements to dental functionality, but the
MHBE is aiming to:

  • Develop new
    Health Benefit Exchange screens to support side-by-side comparison of
    stand-alone dental plans for consumers during open enrollment
  • The dental shopping process will follow the current QHP plan shopping and will facilitate single sign on
  • Household plans will be displayed on the explore your options page with various filters to enhance shopping experience
  • Develop and
    implement dental plan templates for completion by qualified dental
    providers including creating and updating SERFF templates
  • Send 834s to dental carriers

The MHBE aims to implement these enhancements by September 25, 2015.

MHBE Enrollment Report: http://tinyurl.com/oc8yp2e

IT Update: http://tinyurl.com/jw2wx8p

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