NMDA Journal Winter 2019-20

22 New Mexico Dental Journal, Winter 2020 NMDA EndorsedVendors: ADA's Third-Party Payer Concierge™ By Michael Sparks, DDS, MS President-Elect NMDA 2019 and Chair NMDA Member Services Committee This is the third article in a recurring series looking at member benefits in the NewMexico Dental Association. The NMDA regularly evalu- ates and selects companies to endorse when they offer benefits in cost savings and/or high- er level of service for our members. The Mem- ber Services Committee is not endorsing these companies for the benefit of the NMDA, but only for the benefit of our NMDA members. The list of endorsed-company member ben- efits through the NMDA currently includes 13 companies and we are evaluating others to expand this in the near future to help in other needed areas. Right now, we are evaluating a company that could offer a discounted health plan to our members and their offices. We hope to make an announcement soon. Cur- rently, endorsed companies offer a wide range of services including discounted clinical sup- plies by The Dentist’s Supply Company (tdsc. com), which I highlighted in the Summer 2019 NMDA Journal . In the Fall 2019 NMDA Journal , I covered Laurel Road, which says they save ADA member-dentists $30,000 on average and many substantially more with student loan refinancing. In this article, I would like to discuss an ADA member benefit, ADA Third-Party Payer Concierge.™ According to the ADA (success.ada.org ), dental benefits and third-party payer issues are often rated as the most important issue confronting dentists. Indeed, the ADA has made this their top priority in their Common Ground 2025 strategic vision, to help dentists with third- party payer issues. The ADA has resources to help every dentist navigate the third-party payer environment, whether you are trying to decide on signing an insurance provider contract, you are already participating in a plan, or you have chosen to remain out of network. Working with third- party payers can be a challenging part of own- ing a dental practice. With ADA Third-Party Payer Concierge, ADA members get one-on-one support for their dental benefit issues, including third-party payer, provider contracts, coding and dental plan issues. Email or call the ADA’s Third-Party Payer Concierge™ to speak directly to an ex- pert for advice. • Third-party payers • Dental benefits • Provider issues • Coding issues • Dental plans GET EXPERT DENTAL BENEFITS & CODING ADVICE To access the ADA Third-Party Payer Con- cierge™, call 800-621-8099 between 8:30am– 5:00pm CST or email your benefit questions to dentalbenefits@ada.org and your coding questions to dentalcode@ada.org. Finally, please continue passing on your expe- riences with our endorsed companies—both positive and negative. Let us know if you are getting a cost savings and higher levels of ser- vice. You can email me at sparksperio@ yahoo.comwith feedback that I can anony- mously share in future articles and which we can use to add or change our endorsements.