Case - Dr. Beckett’s Dental Office

The types of managed care are differentiated by definition, operation, structure, and information needs. `HMOs were the most common type of MCO until commercial insurance companies developed PPOs to compete with HMOs' (Douglas, 2003, p.331). `HMOs are business entities that either arrange for or provide health services to an enrolled population after prepayment of a fixed sum of money, called a premium' (Peden, 1998, p.78). There are three characteristics that an HMO must have. The first is a health care financing and delivery system that provides services for members in a particular geographic area. Second, is ensured access to a complete range of health care services, health maintenance, treatment, and routine checkups. Last, health care must be obtained from voluntary personnel that participate in the HMO. The five HMO models related to the participating physicians are the Staff

There are many causes of dental phobia and reasons why individuals just do not want to visit the dentist bi-yearly for an exam or even for further procedures. While a lot of causes are unknown, there are some that are more obvious. Some people have a generalized fear of pain. This is a very common reason for an individual to skip the dentist office altogether. This reason of phobia is usually caused by an unpleased or painful previous dental experience or from someone else’s story about their negative experiences. An article from Web MD called Easing Dental Anxiety in Adults states, “Thanks to the many advances in dentistry made over the years, most of today’s dental procedures are considerably less painful or even pain-free” (2016).. A second cause behind some people’s dental phobia is fear of injections or fear of injection failure. The majority people are very afraid of needles. This fear increases when it involves needles inserted into their oral cavity. (Colgate, 2016). Some people even fear that the anesthesia has failed and it did not relieve them of their pain before the dental treatment begins. Along with the fear of injections comes the fear of anesthetic side effects. Some individuals dread the side effects that anesthesia is likely to cause, such as dizziness, nausea, and feeling faint. Others do not like the loss of feeling they experience in their oral cavity. A third cause of dental phobia is the feeling of helplessness and loss of control. People

Many people are concerned about rising health care costs. In reaction to this, some individuals and companies are gravitating toward the assumed lower prices of Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) health plans. HMOs spend billions of dollars each year advertising their low cost services. While these savings look good on paper, there are many pages of small print. The explanation after the asterisk indicates that not only do the HMOs lack lower costs, but they also short-change the patient in quality care. Much of the money spent on premiums goes directly into the pockets of stockholders and less is then available for

In conclusion, I have developed further competence in the components that make a successful dental hygienist after writing this paper. This has helped me expand my awareness of exactly how patients and coworkers play a crucial role in my professionalism. As I maintain professionalism, respect, empathy and the added characteristics mentioned in this paper, I trust I will be a successful

A vocation as a dental hygienist offers an extensive variety of difficulties. In the dental office, the dental specialist and the dental hygienist cooperate to meet the oral wellbeing needs of patients. Since every state has its own particular regulations with respect to their obligations, the scope of administrations performed by hygienists shifts from state to state. A percentage of the administrations gave by dental hygienists might include: quiet screening strategies, for example, evaluation of oral wellbeing conditions, audit of the wellbeing history, oral tumor screening, head and neck investigation, dental graphing and taking circulatory strain and beat taking and creating dental radiographs (x-beams) evacuating math and plaque (hard

Under the HMO, each patient is appointed to a primary care physician (PCP), who is essentially accountable for the long-term care of the members that she/he has been assigned and any specialists that a patient needs to see should be referred by their PCP. Some examples of HMOs are Kaiser Permanente and Humana. HMOs have been licensed at the state level, under a license that is known as a certificate of authority. A pro of an HMO is that treatment for a patient can begin prior to their insurance being authorized; A member may benefit from this because there would be little to no treatment delays. A con of an HMO is that in order to save cost, most HMOs provide narrow provider networks; A member may not benefit if in an emergency because their “in-network” emergency room might be far or there are “quick-care” in their area.

They can examine and diagnose patients, and are allowed to do certain treatments that are above a hygienist’s scope of practice, but everything must be checked and allowed by a supervising dentist on site.1 They are able to prep and place stainless steel crowns on primary teeth, perform pulpotomies on primary teeth, and do some extractions that are simple and do not require major work done. The preventive care that they are able to do includes placing sealants, apply fluoride to the teeth, and also basic health education. If a mid-level provider currently has a hygiene license, then the number of things that they are able to do increases.2 This is very good because it can expand their scope of practice, even farther with the knowledge that they already have on top of what they can do being a mid-level provider. As of right now, there are a few states that allow a mid-level dental provider to work with a little different scope of practice than everyone else. A couple of these states include Alaska and Minnesota. In Alaska, they are trained through a federal program and as of now, they are only allowed to work on tribal lands. In Minnesota, they were the first state to be established by

enjoyed the office’s aroma. I frequently visit my Dentist office, not because I needed but I wanted be there. I had the opportunity to learn how to mix amalgam, how to prepare prophylaxis paste, and how to clean and sterilize instruments at early age. Ever since I can remember I knew that I wanted to work in the dental field. For that reason, it was a surprise for me that Dental field was not the unique career which corresponds with my interest and personality type. Even though Dental Hygiene was not in my top ten strong occupations, it fit in the first two of five top interest areas according to the Strong Interest Inventory.

"Compared to Medicare fee-for-service, managed care plans typically cover more services and impose lower out-of-pocket costs but is limited to the providers authorized by their plan" (Scanlon, 1998). The question of quality of care and services provided started to chink away at the armor of managed care.

Some people may feel that HMOs have become more involved with insurance and less involved with health care assistance. The government attempt to decrease health care expenses has caused major regulatory changes of the market in health care. Managed care was seen as an effective way to support health care quality while maintaining costs here in the United States. When expectation for limited expenses faded away payors started looking in other directions. That’s when state government turned to managed care as a way of keeping down the cost with less resources available than the federal government. The growth of managed care in the U.S. was sparked by the interest in improving the organization of health care and their outcomes. Managed care will continue to face the everyday challenges of fulfilling the marketplace for less limited care while holding down the

Dentistry is a mixture of art and science. It is also one way to help people relieve pain. Although in the past I despised going to

Most people do not look forward to dental appointments, but the dentists here care about their patients. They are genuinely friendly, and you might walk out the door with a smile on your face. Many patients recommend this office to their family and

(Gleason, Ridic & Ridic, 2012). Because of the structure of this system, co-payments required by the consumer are kept minimal, choice of physicians is essentially unlimited, and physicians are reimbursed a set fee for their services which is periodically negotiated between the ministry and the provincial medical associations (Gleason et al., 2012). In the U.S. physician choice is dictated by the specific plan the person is covered under and its participating providers, co-pays can vary, there are deductibles that must be met prior to coverage, and prices for service and reimbursements are determined by the payers such as Medicare and Medicaid. Insurance companies may also have third party payers that further dictate how much the physician is reimbursed and what they can collect for their services with no incentive for its decisions to benefit the patient or the physician (Shi & Singh, 2015). Systems that are centralized face limits based on budget, these restrictions are evident when it comes to medical technology and specialized services, because the U.S. is mainly private, we have wider availability of specialized services and advanced technology (Shi & Singh, 2015). The four most notable types of coverage in the U.S. are the managed care organizations (MCO’s): The Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) and the Preferred Provider Organization (PPO), and the public health insurance Medicare and

HMOs multiplied rapidly with the new federal giveaways. Managed care, now including PPOs, mushroomed. Employers initially perceived managed care plans as cheaper than traditional fee-for-service insurance. Gradually, they stopped offering a choice of health plans, making individual policies more expensive. HMOs' penetration of the industry had been subsidized into existence. Government had instituted managed care. Today, while overall quality of patient care remains the best in the world, doctors practice medicine in an increasingly intricate web of rationing and regulations: Physicians are stripped of professional autonomy. As patients wander the maze of managed bureaucracy, costs rise and quality deteriorates. Every American dependent on a third party for health coverage is a potential victim of managed care. And state sponsored management of medicine

Our highly skilled dentists have earned a reputation for providing oral surgery options in addition to routine care, orthodontic treatment and dentures. We work with patients of all ages, including children. Dental reconstruction. Veneers and even teeth whitening are only a few of the services we offer. If you are looking for a reliable resource for dental care for yourself or your