HMO's how do they work?

Dental HMO's - How do they work? by:  Stephen G. Blank, D.D.S. Patients pay a fee each month to be part of an insurance capitation group. The insurance company then pays a dentist part of that money to see the patients. The insurance company keeps some money and provides no more service, other than providing you a list of dentists. Good dental health is not in this description. * Money: The dentist now gets a check each month for a few bucks for each patient. For example; $5 and 1000 patients would mean a $5,000 check for doing nothing. So far, so good. The dentist is profitable. All the patients feel good, they are "covered". * The Dentist's Problem: The patients start to show up!  If I see you and you need a service that I am contracted to provide free, I lose. If you need cleanings, I have to hire a hygienist or two. There goes my profit. If I do a crown at a cheap fee it better fit the first time. If I can talk you into certain procedures, then I can charge you, instead of doing free care. The trust is lost from the relationship when I can profit from not treating or overtreating. Again, being healthy is missing from the picture. * Dilemma: When you are on the phone and a "real" patient is on the other line. I can make money if I see him, and lose money if I see you. Even the most ethical practitioner starts to treat patients based on revenue after a while. *Contracts: The dentist must see all the patients on his list in a reasonable time. So the only way I can profit is to NOT see you, delay care, or shorten visits to try to squeeze all the HMO patients into the same appointment book. Ask your friends how they are treated in an HMO setting. * Your Problem: After a while most dentists realize that they will go broke or burn out if they keep this up. So they drop out at the end of the contract. Now you have to find another dentist that is willing to try this HMO idea for a year. There is no continuity of treatment. No personal relationship, just a contractural one. And most importantly, no improvement in your dental health! This is disease care, just like much of the medical field. * Do you want your dentist to profit if he fails to treat you? * Do you want to select your dentist from a list or by reputation and referral ? * Do you want your Dentist - Patient relationship to be contractural or personal? "The fillings are free, but the patient is not free from fillings" Stephen Blank 1996   Call to get started today! 772-878-7348