News

NADP On The Move 2023 Recap

As the representative and recognized voice of the dental benefits industry, NADP advanced your positions among key stakeholders and the media throughout 2023. Following are some highlights.

Stakeholder Meetings

HL7 Working Group Meetings

Dental Informatics Manager Brian Flynn defended the needs of the dental benefits industry during the HL7 Working Group Meetings on Jan. 17-19 in Henderson, NV, and the May HL7 7 Connectathon in New Orleans, LA.  HL7 is an ANSI-accredited standards-developing organization that holds meetings to work on standards for electronic transactions and develop invaluable educational resources for the healthcare IT community.

X12 Meetings

Dental Informatics Manager Brian Flynn advanced the unique views of the dental benefits industry during the X12 Winter and Summer meetings in Westminster, CO, Jan. 22-26, and San Antonio, TX, June 2-6, respectively. X12 is a non-profit, ANSI-accredited, cross-industry standards development organization whose work is used by an overwhelming percentage of business-to-business transactions upholding America’s electronic information exchange.

American Dental Association Standards Committee on Dental Informatics (ADA SCDI):

Dental Informatics Manager Brian Flynn served as the voice of the dental benefits industry at the American Dental Association Standards Committee on Dental Informatics in Chicago, IL, March 12-16. SCDI develops informatics standards and technical reports to assist the dental profession with hardware and software selection, digital photography, interoperability, data security, and more.

Association of Dental Support Organizations (ADSO):

Dental Informatics Director Brian Flynn and Director of Membership and Communications Rene Chapin represented the dental benefits industry at the Association of Dental Support Organizations Summit in Orlando, FL, March 28-30.

Quest Analytics Provider Networks Summit:

NADP Executive Director, Mike Adelberg, was one of 10 attendees invited to participate in a one-day summit on improving provider network data and regulating provider networks convened by Quest Analytics in Nashville on March 27.

Advocacy in Action

During Advocacy in Action, April 26-27 in Washington, D.C., NADP members gathered in the nation’s capital to advocate for key industry issues, including the independent purchase of dental plans on healthcare.gov.  (See related articles in this newsletter).

DTA

Executive Director Mike Adelberg and Director of Research Jerry Berggren presented Dental Benefits 101 at the Dental Trade Alliance Washington Conference on April 25-27. Presentation highlights included a discussion of value-based care.

American Dental Association

The NADP Board of Directors held its annual face-to-face meeting with ADA leadership to discuss both common challenges and opposing issues affecting plans and providers. (See NADP Pulse for more details).

GUAA

NADP Director of Research Jerry Berggren presented at the Group Underwriters Association of America conference in New Orleans, LA, May 21-24.

Dental Quality Alliance (DQA)

Dr. Linda Vidone, Delta Dental of Massachusetts and NADP Deputy Executive Director Timothy L. Brown were joined by Dr. Mark Jurkovich, HealthPartners (virtual participant) in representing the dental benefits industry at the June 15-16 DQA meeting in Chicago, IL. DQA is committed to improving patient care and safety through the collaborative development of oral healthcare measures.

Society for Human Resource Management

Director of Membership and Communications Rene Chapin traveled to Las Vegas, NV, to learn more about the employer and benefit managers’ perspectives regarding benefits during the Society for Human Resource Management Conference, June 11-14.

NASHP Conference

The NADP Government Relations department represented members at the National Academy for State Health Policy Conference Aug. 14-16 in Boston, MA. NASHP is a nonpartisan organization committed to developing and advancing state health policy innovations and solutions.

NCOIL Summer Meetings

NADP Executive Director Mike Adelberg and Director of Government Relations Owen Urech represented the dental benefits industry at the spring meeting on March 9-10 in San Diego. They also presented the negative impacts of medical loss ratios on dental benefits during the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) Summer Meeting in Minneapolis, July 19-20.  State Affairs Manager Bianca Balale joined them at the NCOIL Annual Meeting in Columbus, OH, Nov. 15-18 to advocate for model legislation like the bill recently passed in Colorado where insurers report loss ratios, allowing regulators to identify outliers and require remediation. For more information, see the related article in the Advocacy section of this edition of Monthlybyte.

SKYGEN Transform

NADP Executive Director Mike Adelberg and Dental Informatics Manager Brian Flynn represented the dental benefits industry at the SKYGEN meeting, Transform, Oct. 16-18 in Phoenix, AZ. NADP members present included Careington, Cigna, Delta Dental Missouri, MetLife, Overjet, Principal, Strategic Dental, United Concordia Dental, UnitedHealthcare and UNUM.

Medicaid Health Plans Conference

The NADP Government Relations department represented the dental benefits industry during the Medicaid Health Plans Conference on Oct. 18-20 in National Harbor, MD. Managed care executives from across the country, forward-thinking state and federal policymakers, and the beneficiaries attended to collaboratively move Medicaid and managed care forward to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead.

SNOMED

NADP Deputy Executive Director Timothy L. Brown represented the unique views of the dental benefits industry at the SNOMED Business Meeting & Expo, Oct. 23-27 in Atlanta, GA. He was joined by Drs. Roger Adams, Avesis; Mark Jurkovich, HealthPartners; and Linda Vidone, Delta Dental Massachusetts. Meeting highlights included discussing potentially using aspects of the ADA’s Enhanced CDT concepts as SNOMED attributes to be included in electronic dental records (EDRs). Once the dental community embraces standardized EDR terminology, this may be used as background information. The idea will require several years to develop and will require the education of dentists, dental office staff, and practice management systems.

Medicare Supplemental Benefit Innovations

NADP Members, Christina Tuller; Cigna, and Barbara Park, Delta Dental of CA, NY, PA & Affiliates, and Executive Director Mike Adelberg co-presented “Putting a Smile on the Face Plan Switchers: A Deep Dive on Medicare Advantage Dental Benefits,” during the Medicare Supplemental Benefit Innovations conference Nov. 6-7 in Scottsdale, AZ. The conference explored new, proposed Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulation of supplemental benefit utilization, the pressure on “second tier” dental benefits, the application of flex-cards to dental benefits, and new Medicare Advantage reporting requirements for supplemental benefits.

American Academy of Periodontology (AAP)

NADP Deputy Executive Director Timothy L. Brown represented the dental benefits industry during the AAP Conference, Nov. 9-11 in Austin, TX. Drs. Linda Vidone, Delta Dental of Massachusetts, and Robert Lewando, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, presented “Best Practices for Submitting Claims.” Brown also participated in this session and answered several questions regarding annual maximums and the use of diagnostic terms and coding issues.

Dental Quality Alliance

NADP members, Drs. Linda Vidone, Delta Dental Massachusetts, and Mark Jurkovich, HealthPartners and NADP Deputy Executive Director Timothy L. Brown served as the voice of the dental benefits industry during the recent Dental Quality Alliance meeting Nov. 16-18 at the American Dental Association Headquarters in Chicago, IL.

Media 

Health Policy Insider – Amy Lotven interviewed NADP Executive Director Mike Adelberg regarding loss ratios. See Dental Plan Lobby Warns Loss Ratios Could Drive Groups to Self-Insure,

Dr. Bicuspid – A byline article by NADP Executive Director Mike Adelberg was published in Dr. Bicuspid. See Debate to Better Dentistry: MLRs for dental plans.

Connecticut Examiner:  NADP Executive Director Mike Adelberg was quoted in a March 14 article by Sophia Muce, Effort to Force Transparency and Spending Minimums on Dental Insurers Stalls in the Legislature.

Leader’s Edge Magazine (broker publication) — Freelance writer Tammy Worth interviewed Executive Director Mike Adelberg regarding NADP’s position on dental loss ratios.

Barron’s — Executive Director Mike Adelberg was quoted in an article by Gail Marks Jarvis about dental benefits for retirees.

Becker’s Dental + DSO Review:  An interview with Executive Director Mike Adelberg was featured in an article by Ariana Portalatin, The potential risks of medical loss ratios in the dental industry.

Connecticut Inside Investor (CII) – Reporter Marc Fitch interviewed NADP Executive Director Mike Adelberg regarding medical loss ratios. CII is a nonprofit newsroom on a mission to inform the people of Connecticut through investigative journalism and inspire the public through engaging stories. Read the article here.

AM Best – Reporter Timothy Darragh interviewed NADP Executive Director Mike Adelberg about medical loss ratios and the Massachusetts dental market.

New York TimesNADP Executive Director Mike Adelberg was quoted in an article by Michale Levinson, Tom Hanks Warns of Dental Ad Using A.I. Version of Him.

NADP Press ReleaseIn response to media attention generated by the unscrupulous use of artificial intelligence, NADP issued the following press release: NADP Condemns Deceptive Digital Marketing Tactics. The release received 6,000 views, had 691 unique readers and 899 placements with 67.4% appearing in online news channels. Highlights included the New York Times Online, Fox News Channel, CBS 60 Minutes.

Becker’s – – Ariana Portalatin in Featured Perspectives, interviewed NADP Executive Director Mike Adelberg regarding key industry trends including the growth of annual maximums, and enhanced benefits for insureds with chronic conditions. See How dental insurance coverage is evolving: NADP exec (beckersdental.com).

U.S. News & World Report – In response to a media request from Julia Wynn, NADP Executive Director Mike Adelberg supplied an overview of Medicare Advantage plans, including information about cost sharing and provider networks.

Axios – – NADP Executive Director Mike Adelberg is quoted in Maya Goldman’s Nov. 21 article, “More Americans could get dental coverage under Biden proposal.” The article highlights the importance of oral health and the President’s proposal to make adult dental coverage an essential benefit under the Affordable Care Act.

 

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