Scion Dental's Dental Administration Transformation Program Focuses on Improving the Delivery of Medicaid Dental Benefits

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis., Nov. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- When Scion Dental, part of the SKYGEN USA family of distinguished benefit management companies, launched its Dental Administration Transformation Program in January 2016, the overarching goal was straightforward. The cross-functional team was charged with creating additional strategies to ensure each of the Medicaid dental programs it manages is as efficient as possible, and that the limited funding available to those programs is stretched to provide more benefits to more people within the nation's most vulnerable population.  

The first fruits of this ongoing effort have now begun to appear, as Scion Dental is already working with its clients to eliminate paper remittance advices in 2016. Following this transition, all remittance advices will be electronic and available on Scion Dental's newly redesigned and enhanced provider web portal.

"Using paper to confirm remits is needlessly expensive, and frankly rather 'old school'," said Gail Buenger, J.D., vice president of operations for Scion Dental and the driving force behind the Dental Administration Transformation Program. "There are a number of inefficiencies that can weigh down government-funded dental benefit programs. Our mission is to look at every operation we have to find ways to reduce the cost, speed the delivery time or improve the quality of the provider or member experience. By doing so, we can eliminate waste and instead put those dollars to work delivering better care to more Medicaid members."

Transforming from fully manual to fully electronic processes for six types of transactions has been estimated to save health plans and providers more than $8.5 billion annually. Dental health plans also tend to lag medical health plans by 30 percentage points, on average, in adoption of fully electronic transactions. Increasing use of electronic transactions not only means money can be reallocated into patient care by current Medicaid dental providers, but it can also mean that lowering administrative expenses and burdens makes offering Medicaid services more attractive to dentists who are not currently serving that population.

Much of the Dental Administration Transformation Program revolves around the use of technology to automate manual processes, saving time and money while improving accuracy. Scion Dental has a significant advantage over other benefit management organizations in the endeavor since it uses the Enterprise System from sister company Wonderbox Technologies as its core technology.

The Enterprise System is one of the most sophisticated healthcare benefit management software platforms in the industry. Unlike other technologies that were originally designed for medical benefit management and then must be adapted for dental benefits, the Enterprise System was built to manage dental from day one. As a result, when the Dental Administration Transformation Program team develops or reinvents a process, it can be seamlessly incorporated into the Enterprise System so the improvements can be realized within a few weeks instead of waiting months for redevelopment as is common with other technologies.

Evolving the operations at a company such as Scion Dental, an organization that is currently delivering benefits to more than 10 million covered lives across Medicaid, Medicare and commercial payer programs in more than 65 markets, has been quite an endeavor according to Buenger.

"The normal, everyday rhythm of the business will try to pull you away from the program efficiency model," she said. "It's easy to lose sight of the big picture. It's like trying to tune the engine of a jet while it's flying on a transatlantic voyage. But we know that sticking to the mission of the Dental Administration Transformation Program will ultimately help us enable our clients to more effectively bend the cost curve so appropriate and efficient care can be delivered to all who need it."

Underlying the Dental Administration Transformation Program is Scion Dental's dedication to servant leadership, a core value that permeates the SKYGEN USA family of companies. The team that was put together, which includes representatives from key functional areas across Scion Dental, Wonderbox Technologies, and SKYGEN USA, was challenged to question the status quo on everything Scion Dental does today to see if it can be done even better and more efficiently.

"It's all part of our dedication to being good program stewards," said John Schaak, president of Scion Dental and the executive sponsor of the Dental Administration Transformation Program. "We are entrusted to manage taxpayer dollars, and we take that responsibility very seriously. The initial outcomes the team has created are poised to be game-changers, and there are many more yet to come. I commend our team for the heavy lifting they've already done, and am excited to think of where Scion Dental will be a year from now as their efforts continue to gain momentum."

Tweet this: .@ScionDental Dental Administration Transformation Program improving delivery of #Medicaid #dentalbenefits http://bit.ly/2f5KnXm  

About Scion Dental
Scion Dental, part of the SKYGEN USA family of companies that specialize in benefit management, is a distinguished dental administration company focused on bringing next-generation claims management and technology solutions together for government entities and commercial payers that enable them to improve process efficiencies, achieve compliance, and dramatically reduce the cost of delivering benefits. Because of dedicated workflows focused on preventing fraud and abuse, millions of people, including America's children, receive the quality dental care they need. Scion Dental joins sister companies Wonderbox Technologies, Vestica Healthcare, American Therapy Administrators, Ocular Benefits, and Hylis Pharmacy Solutions to comprise the SKYGEN USA brand.  To learn more, visit www.sciondental.com.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Christine Rudella
Director of Marketing, SKYGEN USA
262-834-4145
[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150513/215963LOGO   

SOURCE Scion Dental

Related Links

http://www.sciondental.com