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Glossary of dental prepayment terms C o u n c il o n D e n t a l C a r e P r o g r a m s
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his represents the first revision of the glossary originally developed by the Council on Dental Care Pro grams at the direction of the ADA House of Delegates (Trans 1973:668). This revision represents an attempt by the Council in cooper ation with major carrier associations to define further terms that are as sociated with prepayment plans. Some terms defy rigid definition and can only be described as to use and meaning. Also, certain terms are defined in state insurance codes, which tend to vary from state to state. As dental prepayment con tinues its growth, further revisions may well be necessary and will be undertaken by the Council. The glossary was originally published in 1976.1 Glossary
administrative agent: See third party. alternate benefit: Contract provi sion which authorizes the third party to determine the amount of benefits payable, giving consid eration to professionally accept able alternate procedures, ser vices, or courses of treatment that may be performed in order to ac complish the desired result. (The attending dentist and the patient
may proceed with the original treatment plan regardless of the third party benefit determina tion.) assignment of benefits: A procedure whereby a covered person au thorizes the third party to make payment directly to the dentist of any allowable benefits. audit: The qualitative or quantitative review of dental services ren dered or proposed by a dentist which may take the form of a comparison of patient records and claim form information, a patient questionnaire, an exam ination of pre- or post-operative radiographs, or a pre- or post treatment clinical examination of a patient. Also, may involve fee verification. benefit: 1. The amount payable by the third party toward the cost of various covered dental services. 2. The dental service or proce dure covered by the program. benefit booklet: A booklet for the employee which contains a gen eral explanation of the benefits and related provisions of the dental plan. “bill payer”: See direct reimburse ment mechanism. capitation: 1. Fee—a fixed monthly or yearly payment paid to the dentist in a closed panel by the
third party based on the number of patients assigned to him for treatment whether utilized or not. 2. Premium—fixed yearly or monthly amount paid to an or ganization such as a prepaid group practice or health mainte nance organization to provide dental care to the covered indi vidual, carrier: See third party. certificate holder: The person, usu ally the employee, who repre sents the family unit covered by the prepayment program. This term is most commonly used by private insurance companies. Synonyms: subscriber, enrollee. claimant: Certificate holder who files a claim for benefits. claim form: The form used to file for benefits under a prepayment plan which includes a section for the patient and the dentist (at tending dentist statement), closed panel: A closed panel prac tice is established if patients eli gible for dental services in a pub lic or private program can re ceive these services only at specified facilities by a limited number of dentists. If the ser vices are provided in a group practice facility and are prepaid by some agency, the practice is more precisely termed “prepaid JADA, V o l. 98, A p ril 1979
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group practice” (Trans 1972:670). coinsurance: A provision of a pro gram by which the insured shares in the cost of covered ser vices on a percentage basis. A typical coinsurance arrangement is 80%-20%. This means the car rier will pay 80% of the benefit of the covered dental service and the patient will pay the differ ence. Percentages vary and may apply to both table of allowance programs as well as usual, cus tomary, and reasonable pro grams. Synonym: copayment. contract practice: A contract prac tice is established when an em ployer or administrator contracts directly with a dentist or a group of dentists to provide dental ser vices for employees. contributory program: A method of payment for group coverage in which the insured shares in the cost of the plan with the policyholder normally through payroll deduction, coordination of benefits: A method of integrating benefits payable under more than one group den tal insurance plan so that the in sured’s benefits from all sources do not exceed 100% of his allow able dental expenses. copayment: See coinsurance, cosmetic dentistry: . . . encompass ing those services provided by dentists solely for the purpose of improving the appearance when form and function are satisfac tory and no pathologic condi tions exist (Trans 1976:850). coverage: Benefits available to a covered individual under a den tal program, covered charges: Charges for ser vices rendered or supplies fur nished by a dentist which would qualify as covered expenses and for which the program will pay in whole or in part, subject to any deductible coinsurance or table of allowance included in the program. covered services: Those services for which payment is provided under the contract. deductible: A stipulated sum the 6 0 2 ■ J A D A , V o l. 9 8 , A p r i l 1 9 7 9
covered person must pay toward the cost of dental treatment be fore the benefits of the program go into effect. The deductible may be annual or payable only once and may vary in amount from program to program, dental service corporation: A dental service corporation should be a legally constituted, not-for-profit organization sponsored by a con stituent dental society to negotiate (underwrite) and ad minister contracts for dental care (Trans 1965:84,354). dependents: Generally the spouse and children of a covered indi vidual, as defined in a contract. Under some contracts, parents or other members of the family may be dependents. direct reimbursement mechanism: A method of assistance in which beneficiaries are reimbursed by the employer or benefits ad ministrator for any dental ex penses, or a specified percentage thereof, upon presentation of a paid receipt or other evidence that such expenses were incurred (Trans 1978). dual choice or dual option: Refers to federal legislation that requires employers to give their em ployees the option to enroll in a local health maintenance organi zation rather than in the conven tional employer-sponsored health program. eligibility date: The date an indi vidual and/or his dependents be come eligible for benefits under an existing contract, exceptions or exclusions: Dental services not covered under a den tal program, expiration date: 1. The date the den tal insurance master contract ex pires. 2. The date an individual or employee ceases to be eligible, extension o f benefits: Coverage of dental charges incurred, or ser vices received, after a person’s eligibility expires, usually de signed to enable completion of a service commenced while the person was eligible. The dura tion is usually stated in terms of days.
family deductible: A deductible w hich is satisfied by combined expenses of all covered family members. For example, a pro gram with a $25 deductible may limit its application to a maximum of three deductibles, or $75 for the family, regardless of the number of family mem bers. See deductible. fee-fo r-service: The traditional method of billing by dentists in private practice, whereby the dentist charges for each dental service performed. fee schedule: Maximum dollar al lowances for dental procedures which apply under a specific contract. See table of allowances, foundation for dental care: A dental health organization, comprising members of a local dental soci ety, whose purpose is to provide dental services such as dental care, education, or evaluation, within the community. free choice o f dentist: A provision in a dental program that permits the insured to choose any licensed dentist. health maintenance organiza tion: . . . an organized system of health care that accepts the re sponsibility to provide or other wise ensure the delivery of an agreed-on set of comprehensive health maintenance and treat ment services for a voluntarily enrolled group of persons in a geographic area and is reim bursed through a prenegotiated and fixed periodic payment made by or on behalf of each per son or family unit enrolled in the plan (Trans 1971:27,659). “ hold harmless” clause: A contrac tual provision that applies when a dispute develops between the patient and the dentist with re spect to the dentist’s charge which is in excess of the third party’s determination of pay ments. The third party will hold the insured harmless with regard to judgment and court costs if the controversy is resolved in court. The “ hold harmless” clause applies only if there is no prior agreement between the patient
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and the dentist and only when the dentist takes action against the patient incentive program: A dental pro gram which pays an increasing share of the treatment cost pro vided that the covered individual utilizes the benefits of the pro gram during each incentive period (usually a year) and re ceives the treatment prescribed. For example, a 70%-30% copay ment program in the first year of coverage, may become an 80%20% program in the second year if the subscriber visits the dentist each year as stipulated in the program. Most frequently, there is a corresponding percentage reduction in the copayment level if the covered individual fails to visit the dentist in a given year (but never below the initial copayment level), indemnification schedule: See table of allowances, indemnity program: Provides spe cific cash payment reimburse ment for specified covered ser vices. Payments may be made either to enrollees or on assign ment, directly to dentists. Synonyms: scheduled program, table of allowances, individual practice association: The foundation-type HMO (open panel) is an association of den tists that organizes and develops a management and fiscal struc ture and a fee schedule for indi vidual dentists who join the foundation. Dentists continue to practice in their own offices and continue to provide care to feefor-service patients as well as to HMO enrollees. inoffice audit: See audit, insurer: See third party, limitations: Restricting conditions regarding payment, contained within a group dental contract such as age, materials used, period o f eligibility, and waiting periods. maximum benefit: The maximum dollar amount a program will pay toward the cost of dental care incurred by an individual or fam ily in a specified period, usually
a calendar year, maximum fe e schedule: A com pen sation arrangement in which a participating dentist agreed to accept a prescribed sum as his total fee for one or more covered services (Trans 1965:84,354). noncontributory program: A method of payment for group coverage in which all of the cost of the plan is paid by the policyholder. not-for-profit third parties: Service corporations or prepayment plans organized under state notfor-profit statutes for the purpose of providing health care coverage (for example, Delta Dental Plans, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans). participating dentist: Any dentist with whom a service plan has a contractual agreement to render care to covered subscribers, peer review or professional review: A professionally sponsored and operated system for the render ing of professional judgment on disagreements between or among dentists, patients, or third parties relating to quality or appropri ateness o f treatment and related matters. percentile: A range of a distribution of dental charges determined by a prepayment third party of charges by dentists for a specific dental service. For example, if the third party uses a 90th per centile, maximum payment may be made for any charge at or below that level, post-treatment review: See audit, professional standards review or ganization: A federally spon sored agency of health care pro fessionals established by Public Law 92-603 to determine the quality and appropriateness of health care services paid for, in whole or in part, under the Social Security Act. preauthorization: See predetermina tion. precertification: See predetermina tion. predetermination: An administra tive procedure whereby a dentist submits his treatment plan to the third party before treatment is
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initiated. Then the third party usually returns the treatment plan indicating one or more of the following: patient’s eligibil ity, guarantee of eligibility time, covered service amounts pay able, application of appropriate deductibles, copayment factors, and maximums. Under some programs, predetermination by the third party is required when covered charges are expected to exceed a certain amount, com monly $100. Similar process: preauthorization, precertifica tion, preestimate of cost, pre treatment, prior authorization. preestimate o f cost: See predetermi nation. prefiling o f fees: The submission of a participating dentist’s usual fees to a service plan for the purposes of establishing a dentist’s usual fees and the customary ranges of fees in the geographic area, premium: The amount charged by a third party for coverage of a specified period of time and level of benefits, prepaid dental program: A program that finances the cost of dental care in advance of receipt of ser vice through a third party. prepaid group practice: See closed panel. pretreatment estimate: See pre determination, prevailing fee: Terms used by some third parties to refer to the fee most com monly charged for a service in a given area, prior authorization: See predeter mination. proof o f loss: Verification of services rendered (expenses incurred) by the submission of claim forms, radiographs, study models, and/or other diagnostic material. quality assurance: The assessment or measurement of, or judgment about, the quality of care and the implementation of any necessary changes to either maintain or improve the quality of care ren dered. schedule o f allowances: See table of allowances, screening: See audit, self-insurance: In a self-insured denD E N T A L P R E P A Y M E N T T E R M S ■ 603
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tal prepayment plan, the em ployer, employee, or other spon soring group assumes the role of the insuring agency and admin isters the plan directly (Trans 1965:84,354). Some plans may be administered by a third party, service plan: A prepayment plan that guarantees to provide covered services to subscribers as opposed to indemnifying dental expenses, subscriber: The person, usually the employee, who represents the family unit in relation to the den tal program. This term is most commonly used by service cor poration plans. Synonyms: cer tificate holder, enrollee. table o f allowances: A list of covered services that assigns to each ser vice a sum which represents the total obligation of the plan with respect to payment for such ser vice, but which does not neces sarily represent the dentist’s full
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fee for that service (Trans 1965:84,354). Synonyms: fee schedule, schedule of allow ances, indemnification schedule. termination date: See expiration date. third party: The party to a dental prepayment contract that may collect premiums, assume finan cial risk, pay claims, and/or pro vide administrative services. Synonyms: administrative agent, carrier, insurer, underwriter. usual, customary, and reasonable fees: usual fee: The usual fee is that fee usually charged, for a given service, by an individual dentist to his private patient, that is, his own usual fee. customary fee: A fee is custom ary if it is in the range of the usual fees charged by dentists of similar training and experience, for the same service within the specific and limited geographic
area (socioeconomic area of a metropolitan area or of a county). reasonable fee: A fee is reason able if it meets these two criteria or in the opinion of the respon sible dental association’s review committee is justifiable consid ering the special circumstances or the particular case in ques tion (Trans 1973:665). utilization: The extent to which the members of a covered group use a program over a specified period of time. Also less frequently de fined as the number of services used per year. waiting period: The period of time between employment or enroll ment in a dental program and the date when an insured person be comes eligible for benefits.
1. C o u n c il o n D e n ta l Care Program s. G lossary o f d e n ta l p re p a y m e n t J A D A 92(2):428-431, 1976.
term s.