Evaluating A Dental Plan

When you're evaluating or comparing dental plans, we recommend that you consider the following criteria:

1. A good dental plan provides higher coverage for preventive and diagnostic services (i.e., cleanings and x-rays) to encourage members to visit their dentist regularly.
   
   
2. If you are looking for comprehensive dental coverage, make sure you purchase a dental plan, not just a discount plan. True dental plans offer financial and quality advantages. Look for a dental plan that has written contracts with a network of participating dentists. The contracts should include:

   	No balance billing policies.
   	Pre-treatment, claims and utilization reviews that will help prevent excessive or inappropriate treatments or billing.
   	Regular dental office reviews by the carrier to ensure that dentists are meeting their contract requirements and providing appropriate, consistent care.

   
   
3. Your carrier should have systems in place that ensure quality care for your employees. Look for:

   	Written standards of care that define appropriate dental treatments and outcomes.
   	Tools that monitor quality, such as claims reviews, site visits and random audits.
   	And, if you're thinking about a managed care plan, choose one that uses the standards established by an independent agency, like the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA), to credential its network dentists.

   
   
4. Your dental plan should offer easy access to local dentists. Take a close look at the plan's network. As a rule of thumb, all employees should be within 10 miles of a participating general dentist in urban areas and 20 miles in rural areas.

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