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Introducing DeltaVision®
Delta Dental of Iowa is proud to introduce DeltaVision, vision benefit plans for employers that combine choice, value and wellness.
Utilizing the EyeMed Vision Care® Access network, DeltaVision plans give enrollees access to a national network of both independent providers, including optometrists, ophthalmologists and opticians, and leading optical retailers.
DeltaVision offers several vision care plan options for employers including a materials-only option designed to compliment medical plans that cover a yearly vision exam. All of the DeltaVision full coverage plans include annual contact lens fit and follow-up exams at no additional cost.
Delta Dental will begin including a quote for vision benefits with all dental renewals. DeltaVision is underwritten by Veratrus Benefit Solutions, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta Dental of Iowa. In addition to the fully-insured vision plans, Delta Dental offers all subscribers a vision discount program through EyeMed Vision Care.
For more information on DeltaVision, Delta Dental will be hosting webinars on the following dates:
- Wednesday, January 27 – 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
- Tuesday, February 2 – 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
- Wednesday, February 3 – 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Please contact Sharon Porter at 515-261-5581 to register for the DeltaVision webinar.
More information on DeltaVision will be available in February on the Broker Portal on the Delta Dental website at www.deltadentalia.com.
Vision Discount Number Incorrect
Starting in January, Delta Dental of Iowa also began offering a vision discount program at no cost to all subscribers through EyeMed Vision Care, LLC. It has come to our attention that the vision discount brochure referenced in the December newsletter and sent to employers in December and early January had an incorrect phone number to access information on the discount program. The correct phone number is 1-866-246-9041.
Delta Dental is sending a letter and a new vision discount flyer to all group contacts the week of January 25. Please replace any communications you may have provided your clients with the corrected phone number. You should discontinue using the brochure on the vision discount that has the code DVDISC122009 on the bottom left corner. A new brochure can be downloaded from the Delta Dental website at www.deltadentalia.com/visiondiscount with the correct phone number.
We apologize for any inconvenience this error may have caused you or your clients. If you have any questions about the discount program, please contact marketing@deltadentalia.com.
COBRA Extension
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 provided a premium reduction and extended election opportunities for benefits under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA). The ARRA is also applicable to all employers who choose to offer continued dental coverage under the Iowa Continuation Coverage (ICC) requirements. ICC applies to employers with less than 20 employees.
Effective December 19, 2009, the COBRA Premium Subsidy was extended to include the following:
- Extension of the subsidy eligibly period from December 31, 2009 to February 28, 2010.
- Extension of the subsidy coverage period from 9 to 15 months. (Excludes employers subject to ICC)
- Provides retroactive coverage for subscribers who fall within the “transition period.” This includes individuals who reached the end of the original COBRA subsidy coverage period and either terminated their Delta Dental coverage or continued it at 100%. (Excludes employers subject to ICC)
Delta Dental will continue to process the premium subsidy for employers as outlined in the original COBRA and ICC communications issued on April 20, 2009. To view these communications, please go to www.deltadentalia.com/cobra.
Revised Delta Dental Business Associate Agreement
Delta Dental of Iowa has revised its Business Associate Agreement to comply with the requirements of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which amends HIPAA. This agreement was sent to Delta Dental ASC (self-insured) clients on December 23, 2009. You may have received calls from your clients about this communication from Delta Dental. This agreement replaces our previous agreement.
Each client received two copies of the agreement – one copy should be kept by the client, the other copy should be signed by your client and returned to Delta Dental by January 31, 2010.
If you have any questions about the revised Business Associate Agreement, please contact Holly Twedt at 515-261-5567.
Delta Dental ACH Form Updated
In September, new regulations went into effect regarding international ACH transactions. If an entity sends or receives ACH transactions to/from a banking institution not located in the United States, the new guidelines must be followed.
To comply with the new regulations, Delta Dental has modified its ACH forms. The new ACH forms can be found online on the Broker Portal at www.deltadentalia.com under the Agent Kit. Please discontinue using the old ACH forms immediately and replace with the new form.
If you have a client with an international banking institution, please contact Kathy Erickson with Delta Dental at 515-261-5515 for further instructions.
Smile Squad™ Teaches Dental Health Lessons Through Fun Activities
Your clients’ employees care about their children’s oral and overall health and want to teach their kids good oral hygiene habits. To help, Delta Dental recently launched the Smile Squad™, a group of young heroes created to educate children about the importance of good oral health through fun and educational activities at www.SmileSquadHQ.com.
The Web site features illustrations and bios of all heroes and villains and offers a variety of activities for children and parents to enjoy while immersing themselves in positive dental health information, including comic-book style adventures, downloadable coloring pages, online games and a downloadable Smile Squad card game.
Every dentist in the Delta Dental Premier® network will receive a Smile Squad card game for children to play with in the waiting room. Parents and children can also sign up on the Web site to receive e-mail alerts when new adventures and other exciting features become available.
Delta Dental Awards Grants for Oral Health Projects
The Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation awarded $57,899 to 10 Iowa agencies to improve the oral health of Iowans. The oral health grants are part of the Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation’s mini-grant program. Mini-grants are intended to support one-time oral health projects or to stimulate long-term oral health projects.
The agencies awarded mini-grants by the Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation in October 2009 included:
- Area Health Education Center – Southeast Iowa, Davenport – $8,684 for an educational program for middle school students about chewing tobacco.
- Buena Vista University, Storm Lake – $10,000 for an undergraduate rural dentistry internship program.
- Iowa Department of Public Health, Des Moines – $10,000 for oral health educational books for 458 family practice and pediatric offices throughout Iowa.
- Iowa Central Community College, Fort Dodge – $3,500 for custom-fit mouth guards for 100 high school athletes and $3,250 for educating nursing home staff and residents on oral health care and its affect on overall health.
- Iowa Branch of the American Student Dental Association, Iowa City – $8,000 for the second edition printing of “Healthy Smiles for Young Children.”
- North Iowa Community Action Organization, Mason City – $3,000 for fluoride varnish and hygienic covered toothbrush racks to Head Start facilities and schools in nine Iowa counties.
- Siouxland Community Health Center, Sioux City – $3,000 to provide screening supplies for use by dental professionals as well as oral health aids for home use.
- Visiting Nurse Services of Iowa, Des Moines – $3,000 for oral health educational and outreach materials.
- Winnebago County Public Health, Forest City – $500 to provide supplies for oral health screenings for children with no dental insurance.
- Youth Law Center, Des Moines – $4,966 for oral health supplies to be provided to juvenile court judges to provide these supplies for at-risk families.
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Oral Health IQ: Delayed First Visit to Dentist Can Affect Children’s Lifelong Oral Health
This column on oral health can be used for your own internal newsletters or other employee communications.
Most American children don’t see their family dentist until they are well over 2 years old, far later than is recommended by both dental and medical professionals. That’s one of the key findings from a survey1 of American children’s oral health, conducted on behalf of Delta Dental Plans Association.
The survey of primary caregivers revealed that, for those children who had seen a dentist, the average age at the initial visit was 2.6 years. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recommends that a child go to the dentist by age 1 or within six months after the first tooth erupts.
Importance of Primary Teeth Not Recognized
According to the AAPD, it is very important to keep primary teeth in place until they are lost naturally. “Baby” teeth:
- Help children chew properly to maintain good nutrition.
- Are involved in speech development.
- Help save space for permanent teeth.
- Promote a healthy smile that helps children feel good about the way they look.
The American Academy of Family Physicians recommends that care for a child’s gums should begin at birth. According to the Delta Dental survey, 35 percent of caregivers clean their baby’s gums just a few times a week, or less.
Caregivers should gently wipe their baby’s gums with a soft, wet cloth after each feeding. When primary teeth begin to appear, they should be cleaned with a soft, child-sized toothbrush and a pea-sized dab of children’s toothpaste, twice a day.
“Many Americans don’t understand how important their children’s baby teeth are to lifelong oral health,” said Ed Schooley, dental director for Delta Dental of Iowa. “There’s a continuing need for more education to teach practices that will ensure lifelong oral health.”
For more information on children’s oral health, go to www.oralhealth.deltadental.com.
1 Morpace Inc. conducted the 2009 Delta Dental Children’s Oral Health Survey. Random 15-minute telephone interviews were conducted nationally with 914 primary caregivers of children from birth to age 11. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of error is ±3.2 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. |
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