Research Recap

2021 Research Recap

The Coronavirus pandemic has been disruptive to the Research Agenda for 2021, but also presented opportunities for industry collaboration to quickly address the impact on the dental benefits industry through NADP’s Research program. The ability for plans to respond to planned industry surveys was significantly reduced, especially during local government-imposed lockdowns, staff furloughs and the rapid shift to remote work for NADP staff and for member companies.

As a reaction to this situation, the Research Commission revised the 2021 Industry Research Agenda to accommodate the situation.  Several industry reports were delayed due to lagging response from members; others were delayed by the Research Commission to accommodate resource limitations of member companies, A new report, Benefit Utilization was changed to increase frequency of data collection deemed vital to inform NADP’s response to the pandemic and a series of ad hoc surveys and reports was conducted to assess issues particular to pandemic response.

Statistical Reports on the Industry

State of the Market Report: This industry primer includes highlights from the previous year’s statistical surveys such as trends on enrollment, premiums, customer service and claims processing. The report also has a section on “What to Expect.”

State Fact Sheets: NADP State Fact Sheets provide key, state-specific data on the dental benefits market and highlight pertinent statistics about the national market. State-specific information includes statistics on enrollment and dental workforce, with national data on enrollment trends, change in premium, product funding, offerings by group size and enrollment in dental benefits by household income.

2020 Dental Benefits Report: Network Statistics: This report highlighted the legislative activity around Non-Covered Services, Network Adequacy, Accessibility and Directories and Network Leasing at the state and federal levels. It also reports the number of dentists listed in DHMO and DPPO directories by location (state and Metropolitan Statistical Area) and by dental specialty.

The report includes two files: a report on legislative activity highlights, network statistics and listing of the counts of dentists listed in provider directories; and a spreadsheet that includes the counts of dentists participating on networks.

NADP 2020 Dental Benefits Report: 2020 Customer Contact Center Metrics Report: Beginning with this year’s report, NADP is no longer partnering with LIMRA to publish. The NADP Customer Contact Center Metrics Report provides benchmarking data for the dental benefits industry on metrics common in customer service operations. This report includes data on

• Call center performance, management and practices,
• Web-based customer service capabilities and performance metrics,
• Customer portal capabilities
• Customer satisfaction measurement processes, and
• Performance guarantees

2020 Dental Benefits Report: 2020 Benefit Utilization Trends: Originally planned as an annual survey and report, due to the pandemic the Research Commission accelerated the data collection timing and frequency of this report. Beginning in the first quarter, data for this report has been collected quarterly and has been issued as a preliminary report to participating plans. The fourth quarter survey and Annual Report was published this year for the first time.

2020 Dental Benefits Report: Enrollment: The NADP Enrollment Report is the cornerstone of NADP’s Statistical Reports on the dental benefits industry. The report should be completed and published by year’s end and will include detailed information on dental plan membership for commercial and public dental benefits at the national and state level.

In addition, new enrollment from new business only for DPPO products by state is included in the report.

NADP 2020 Dental Benefits Report: Plan Design: The NADP Plan Design Report includes data reported by product type (DHMO, DPPO In-Network, DPPO Out of Network, and Dental Indemnity) and will report benchmark data on Annual Maximum levels, enrollees reaching the Annual Maximum, Lifetime Orthodontia Maximums, Deductible levels, and information about the percentage of enrollment with products with special features like Max Rollover, Implant coverage, TMJ coverage, Preventive and Diagnostic plans, and plans with coverage for cosmetic procedures.

NADP 2020 Dental Benefits Report: Premiums: This is a report carved out of the Financial Operations and Premium Report. The report includes state level data premium by product for 2019 and 2020. Premiums are reported as average premium per month per member.

Consumer Tracking Survey

Previously conducted as part of NADP’s Shared Research Program, the Consumer Tracking Survey was fielded in the fourth quarter of this year. The final report and the data file for this year’s data will be available for purchase in January 2022.

COVID Response Surveys

In the wake of lockdowns imposed by various states and the federal government, NADP has had to counter several attempts at legislation to put additional restrictions and limits on dental insurance plans.  NADP’s Industry research has been important in educating legislators and regulators about the dental benefit industry and the potential impacts their legislation could have on their constituencies. In 2020, NADP was able to quickly collect and use data to slow a proposal in Maine to impose Dental Loss Ratios in that state. Similarly, political activity in Massachusetts is likely to require a similar need for data as early as this week.

NADP research reports are possible because of the participation of our dental plan members and the concentrated efforts of Research Commission members. This has been a challenging year for all of us; thank you for your continued support of NADP’s Industry Research through your participation. For more information, contact Director of Research Jerry Berggren.