Articles
2006 Cost Containment Report Released
Program Makes Dental Care Accessible to Employees Not Covered by Your Benefits
Grants Offered to NJ Abbott Schools for Oral Health Education
Seventeenth Annual Delta Dental Classic Almost Here!
How You Can Help Employees Achieve Better Oral Health
2006 Annual Report Published
If You Receive Our Survey, Please Respond!

2006 Cost Containment Report Released

Groups saved $196.8 million in 2006 as part of our cost containment programs. We also paid a record $448.2 million in claims.

Those are some of the findings from our 2006 Cost Containment Report. 

The report shows how we help groups manage their benefits costs. It identifies eight areas of cost containment savings: in-network savings, non-billable services, contractual limitations, eligibility verification, non-covered services, dentist consultant review, optional services, and COB savings.

To view the entire 2006 Cost Containment Report, visit our Web site at www.deltadentalnj.com; click “Employers” and “Cost Containment Report” under “Reports and Surveys.”

Program Makes Dental Care Accessible to Employees Not Covered by Your Benefits

Are some employees not covered by your company’s benefits program? Temporary and part-time employees without dental coverage may benefit from Delta Dental Patient Direct. 

Delta Dental Patient Direct is a dental membership program open to New Jersey residents without dental insurance. Members receive access to a network of participating New Jersey dentists, who limit fees to no more than the Patient Direct fee schedule. Savings are about 25% lower than average statewide fees. 

Patient Direct is not insurance. Members pay 100% of the Patient Direct dentist's fee, up to the maximum Patient Direct fee. Most routine dental services are included, including braces and cosmetic services such as bleaching. Members are also eligible for vision care savings.

More than 1,800 New Jersey dentists are part of the Delta Dental Patient Direct network.

For more information about Delta Dental Patient Direct, please call (877) TOOTH-07 or visit the Delta Dental Patient Direct Web site at www.patientdirectnj.com.

Grants Offered to NJ Abbott Schools for Oral Health Education

Our Foundation is offering its first Oral Health Education Initiative Grants to elementary schools in New Jersey Abbott school districts. Selected schools will use the grants to start oral health education programs in their third-grade classes for the 2007-2008 school year. 

Three schools from separate districts will be chosen to receive grants of up to $5,000 to fund the programs.

To apply, each school must develop an oral health education program that includes 10 monthly activities. The program should help children understand:

•  Why proper daily oral hygiene is important
•  How to brush and floss properly
•  The function of the dentist and hygienist
•  The relationship between oral health and food choices
•  The relationship between oral health and overall health

School programs may include monthly activities such as an oral health bulletin board, field trips to dentist offices, and reading books about oral health.

The Delta Dental Oral Health Education Initiative Grant is open to all New Jersey Abbott elementary schools that include third grade. Delta Dental will accept applications until June 16, 2007. Grant recipients will be notified before July 31, 2007. For more information, contact Kimberly Elmore at (973) 944-4555.

Seventeenth Annual Delta Dental Classic Almost Here!

It’s only a short time until tee time at the Seventeenth Annual Delta Dental Classic. The golf event benefits Special Olympics New Jersey.

It takes place on June 20 at Fiddler's Elbow Country Club in Bedminster, New Jersey—one of the finest golf courses in New Jersey—and helps a truly worthy cause. The Delta Dental Classic has raised more than $553,000 for Special Olympics New Jersey.

For information, contact Jennifer Appaluccio at jappaluccio@deltadentalnj.com. Or visit our Web site at www.deltadentalnj.com and click “download the invitation” in the “What’s New” section. 

Be sure to mark the date!

How You Can Help Employees Achieve Better Oral Health

Companies that offer dental benefits help motivate employees to maintain good oral health. 

People with dental insurance visit the dentist almost twice as often as people without coverage, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. A national poll conducted by the nonprofit group Research!America found that 85% of Americans said their oral health was very important to their overall health. The same poll found that the primary reason people hadn’t visited the dentist in the past 12 months is lack of insurance. 

Regular preventive care significantly reduces dental emergencies for employees and their families. Every dollar spent on prevention saves $4 in future treatment and restoration costs, according to a report published in Public Health Reports. An investment in prevention is a financially sound decision. 

Sidebar: Subscriber News Helps Employees Take Charge
You can help educate employees about the importance of oral health. One way is by encouraging them to subscribe to Subscriber News. Subscriber News is our free monthly e-mail newsletter. Articles cover oral health and dental benefits issues. To subscribe, visit our Web site at www.deltadentalnj.com. Click “Members” and “Newsletter,” then enter your e-mail address into the subscription box. 

Delta Dental created a flyer so you can get the word out about this free newsletter. Post it on bulletin boards, or distribute it through e-mail or interoffice mail. To download a copy, visit our Web site at www.deltadentalnj.com. Click “Employers” and then “Subscriber News Flyer” in the Document Download area.

Delta Dental does not sell, rent, or disclose e-mail addresses to third parties. Subscribers will not receive unsolicited e-mail, or “spam,” as a result of their subscription.

2006 Annual Report Published

Delta Dental’s 2006 Annual Report, called “The caring behind the smiles,” highlights our business and philanthropic achievements. In 2006 those include:

•  Retaining 95% of our customers.
•  Processing nearly 2.9 million claims in record time.
•  Earning “excellent” or “above average” satisfaction scores from the vast majority of benefits managers, members, and brokers surveyed.
•  Distributing $750,000 in grants to dental clinics and educational clinics in underserved areas of New Jersey and Connecticut.
•  Supporting dental hygiene and dental assisting programs at New Jersey high schools and colleges.

To order your free copy of Delta Dental’s 2006 Annual Report, visit our Web site at www.deltadentalnj.com. Click “About Us” on the left navigation bar. Then go to “Annual Report.”

If You Receive Our Survey, Please Respond!

Each quarter we mail short “pulse” surveys to a random group of benefits managers. If you receive this survey, we hope you’ll take a minute to respond. Your participation is very important to us. 

The quarterly “pulse” survey and annual benefits manager survey are used to assess our performance, identify areas for improvement, and determine how to better meet our groups’ needs. Rest assured that we will contact you sometime in 2007 for your feedback.