The powerful, respected voice of the dental benefits industry was heard loud and clear this past month as NADP volunteers and staff represented your views at critical meetings and in the media.
Meetings and Conference Calls
NASHP
NADP State Affairs Manager Eme Augustini represented the dental benefits industry Oct. 10 at the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) annual conference in Seattle. The meeting focused on policy discussions regarding oral health access points, stakeholders and avenues for care and coverage including Medicaid, mid-level providers, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), school-based programs and Exchanges.
Member Presentation for Security Life
On Oct. 10, NADP Executive Director Evelyn F. Ireland, CAE, shared her knowledge about the effects of the Affordable Care Act on dental plans at a meeting of leading brokers of NADP member, Security Life Insurance Company of America, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Louisiana Underwriters
As part of the association's ongoing Broker Initiative, NADP Board Secretary Dr. Gene Sherman, Starmount Life Insurance, and NADP Executive Director Evelyn F. Ireland, CAE, presented information about dental benefits and Health Insurance Marketplaces (HIMs) at the Oct. 16 meeting of Louisiana Underwriters in New Orleans. The Louisiana Underwriters is a chapter of the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU).
AHIP State Issues Conference
NADP Director of Government Relations Kris Hathaway traveled to Washington, D.C. Oct. 17 to represent the dental benefits industry at the America's Health Insurance Plans State Issues Conference.
U.S. NOHA
NADP Executive Director Evelyn F. Ireland, CAE traveled to Indianapolis Oct. 23 for the Executive Committee meeting of the U.S. National Oral Health Alliance (NOHA). The Executive Committee reviewed U.S. NOHA operations and objectives.
X-12 Conference Call
On the x12 conference call Oct. 24, NADP Dental Informatics Manager Brian Flynn represented our members' unique viewpoints during discussions of the Minnesota care tax versus sales tax and removing AMT in the future version of the 837D. NADP's participation at X12 is part of your association's ongoing representation and leadership in the arena of Dental Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) standards. X12 is chartered by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and develops EDI standards for national and global markets. NADP holds a voting seat on the X12 Dental Caucus, where Brian serves as chair.
WEDI Conference Call
Serving as your voice, NADP Dental Informatics Manager Brian Flynn represented members during the Oct. 24 conference call of the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI). Discussion focused on the gaps between 5010 and 6020 standards.
ADA SCDI
NADP Deputy Executive Director Tim Brown and Dental Informatics Manager Brian Flynn served as your voice during the American Dental Association's Standards Committee on Dental Informatics (SCDI) Oct. 29 in Chicago. SCDI develop informatics standards, specifications, technical reports, and guidelines and interact with other entities involved in the development of health informatics standards aimed at implementation across the dental profession.
Association of Healthcare Journalists
On Oct. 29, NADP Executive Director Evelyn F. Ireland, CAE presented key points for consumers to consider in selecting pediatric dental on Exchanges as part of a three-person panel for an Association of Healthcare Journalist webinar.
Media Interviews and Articles
Articles
NADP Press Release - NADP released "Commercial Dental Benefits Enrollment Jumps Dramatically in 2012," which highlighted the 3% increase (11 million lives) in dental benefits at the end of 2012. The release appeared on numerous websites including MarketWatch and Yahoo Finance and several top-20 markets including Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Fort Worth, Kansas City, and Oakland.
Interviews
The following media outlets interviewed NADP Executive Director Evelyn F. Ireland, CAE in October:
- New York Times -whether or not Medicare beneficiaries could purchase dental on the Health Insurance Marketplace (Reporter Susan Jaffe)
- MarketWatch.com -background on dental benefits and the ACA
- New York Times -ACA tax issues and the pediatric dental benefit (Reporter Catherine St. Louis)
- Money Magazine - background regarding annual and orthodontia lifetime maximums (Reporter Katherine Hobson)
- Inside Dentistry - reimbursement issues for dentists (Reporter writer Jackie Syrop)