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| e-News
Bulletin |
Issue
7 - June 22, 2006 |
In
this issue:
- Dental Network Offers Reduced Fees to Attract More Patients
- Are You and Your Employees Ready for a Possible Pandemic?
Dental Network Offers Reduced Fees to Attract More Patients – Could this be too good to be true?
Many employers continually look for ways to contain the costs of their group health and dental plans. Although cost-cutting may seem to be the only option, sometimes the situation requires further analysis to see if it’s worth it. Preferred provider dental options are one of those incidences that require further examination before jumping on board.
Recently, McGowan Insurance Services received marketing material from a dental network offering 25% reductions in the current general practitioner fee guide for all professional fees, including cosmetic and restorative fees. The material states that by altering only the fee guide, all other operating and claim processing procedures remain unchanged and unaffected.
On the surface this offers sounds like a great option for employers; but is the deal as good as the marketing material claims?
Things to Think about When Considering a Dental Network
While the immediate savings offered by a preferred provider dental network sounds appealing, it’s important to ask some key questions and consider the impact of the change. Here are some things to think about:
Does the plan have a limited network?
One of the first things that a plan sponsor should assess is the number of dental offices in the network. Does the network have an ample selection of dental offices near your office or where your employees live? Does the dental network have offices in all provinces where your employees reside? Are services available in French in English? Are the network options too limiting for your employees?
Will your employees receive the same quality of care?
Some skeptics believe that the quality of care may be comprised as the discounts offered through networks greatly impact a dentist’s bottom line – so the feeling is that something has to give. This would be hard to assess as a dental network obviously claims that the quality of care is the same, however, there is a potential for circumstances to arise where a dentist could choose to treat a patient with a less costly and perhaps less effective procedure because it’s in the dentist’s best interests.
Are your employees willing to move from their current dentist?
People are often very attached to their dentists and have been going to the same one for years. Canadians typically don’t take well to ‘being told’ where they can or cannot go to obtain treatment. Would this plan upset your employees by forcing them to use another dentist within the network?
Potential Conflict of Interest
The marketing material that McGowan Insurance Services received offers brokers and consultants a 30% commission in the first year to encourage their clients to participate. While this practice is not uncommon, it might raise questions about the objectivity of your broker or advisor. And certainly, it’s something that would need to be disclosed to clients by their broker under the new disclosure policy set out by the insurance industry. [For information on the insurance industries move to create common disclosure standards across Canada, click here.]
The bottom line is that employers should revisit their group benefits plan objectives before making significant plan changes to reduce costs. Ask: Why are you offering a group benefits plan? To improve employee satisfaction? To maintain and improve the health and well-being of your employees? To provide a competitive employee compensation plan?
The important thing is to make a thorough assessment and look at potential consequences of reducing plan costs before you make a decision. If you’ve seen marketing materials discussing programs similar to the one described in this article, McGowan Insurance Services would be happy to discuss it with you to determine if this is the best option for your business needs. Call Don McGowan at 1-800-749-7549.
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Are You and Your Employees Ready for a Possible Pandemic?
In the last issue of the e-News Bulletin, we included an article on the importance of contingency planning in the event of a pandemic. The company that we featured, Microbix, has partnered with an international healthcare supply company to develop a Toolkit with supplies that would be useful during an outbreak. To find out what’s in the kits and how to purchase them, click here.
If you didn’t have time to catch-up on the last issue of the e-News bulletin, click here to see the article on the importance of planning for a pandemic.
If you would like some guidance on business interruption planning, please feel free to contact Don McGowan at McGowan Insurance Services Ltd. at 1-800-749-7549.
Disclaimer:
The opinions and advice in this e-News Bulletin are provided
for the general guidance and benefit of McGowan Insurance
Services Ltd. customers based on information we believe to
be accurate. We cannot guarantee its accuracy or completeness
for individual circumstances. While we strive to provide reliable,
informative material herein, we cannot account for all industry
conditions and legislative changes that occur. |
