Delta Dental of California taking over Lab's dental plan in 2004

Delta Dental of California is taking over the Laboratory's dental plan beginning Jan. 1, 2004. The Laboratory's dental plan for University of California employees and retirees currently is managed by Delta Dental of New Mexico and will continue in place through Dec. 31.

Dentists that are currently contracted with Delta Dental of New Mexico will automatically become members of Delta Dental of California on Jan. 1, 2004, said Chris Binns of Benefits and Employment Services (HR-B). He added that Delta of California representatives will be meeting with nonparticipating dentists in the area to discuss this change and continue to address issues previously voiced by them.

The change in dental plans was prompted in part after some dentists had chosen to leave Delta Dental of New Mexico because of concerns around its "reimbursement methodology." Some dentists felt that this negatively impacted them, according to Mark Esteban of UC's Health and Welfare Policy and Program Design.

Binns emphasized that Delta Dental of New Mexico will remain the Lab's dental health provider until Dec. 31.

As of Jan.1, 2004 Delta of California will take on all claims processing and customer service functions for the Laboratory. Both Delta Dental of New Mexico and Delta of California will work with local dentists to facilitate a smooth transition, said Binns.

HR-B was notified last week in a letter from Esteban about the change. In the letter, Esteban said the transition to Delta Dental of California should be completed by Jan. 1, 2004 and that participating area dentists also are being notified. (Adobe Acrobat Reader required)

Binns said Laboratory employees and their families should know several things about the change. Among them:

• employee's and retiree's dental benefits will remain the same.
• participating dentists will no longer have to pay the 4 percent service charge for each claim to Delta of New Mexico for participating in the plan.
• delta of California will have full access to Laboratory enrollees' claim history, allowing it to respond to each employee's benefits needs.
• the University of California will have closer oversight of the Laboratory dental situation and the community's needs by removing the "middle man" [Delta Dental of New Mexico] because UC's dental provider also is Delta Dental of California.

UC's Office of the President worked closely with HR-B, an outside consultant and Delta Dental to ensure Laboratory employees and retirees continue to receive quality benefits from the dental network provider. Binns of HR-B said the change also should encourage dentists to return to the plan and urged UC Lab employees and retirees to contact their dentist of choice and ask if they will be participating with the new provider.

Additional information can be found at http://int.lanl.gov/worklife/benefits/health/dental/delta.shtml online.

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