The Challenges and Opportunities of Quality Measurement in Dentistry
Dentists would all agree that they are laser-focused on quality. But how do you define it and measure it? That’s a question with a lot more variables.
When you typically think about measuring something, you’re probably using a standard set of metrics that guide your analysis. If you need to measure the height of something, you use a ruler. If you’re measuring dental practice growth, you may look at how many new patients have come in over a set period of time. But what happens when you try to measure something with many variables that doesn’t have a clear set of standards to measure against?
That’s one of the many reasons why quality measurement is an important topic in the oral health community in recent years, as the industry continues to move toward a more patient-centered, value-based approach. And while there are challenges, quality measurement also presents many opportunities for dentists to grow a practice filled with happy, healthy patients that come back year after year.
Defining Quality in Dentistry
First, though, before we can measure quality, we need to agree on what that means. According to the American Dental Association, quality measurement is about establishing measures to identify and monitor strategies to reduce incidence of oral disease, while simultaneously improving effectiveness and efficiency of care through a focus on prevention.
The key word there is “prevention”. When you think about quality from a patient-centered perspective, it’s not just about the dentistry — the quality of the crown or the individual treatment — but the overall quality of a person’s oral health.
Challenges of Quality Measurement in Dentistry
So how do you measure that? One of the biggest challenges with quality measurement right now is that there isn’t a standard set of measures. For most dental professionals, quality measurement data comes from the administrative claims process. Claims data from insurance companies is a great start since it gives insights as to what kinds of services or treatments dentists are performing. While this data is important for process and access data, it doesn’t always give a big picture view of outcomes; whether the patient’s oral health is improving.
That’s why the industry is working to establish an industry set standard for how to measure the care it’s providing and how effectively it’s working. The ADA suggests that “dentistry needs a cost-effective measurement system that can be easily implemented on a routine basis in small practices, measures factors under the control of the practitioner, and yields meaningful information that can be acted upon for improvement.” It’s not an easy task, but we’re moving in the right direction.
Opportunities for Dental Practices to Grow
Good quality measures allow dental professionals to quantify the care provided and gauge how certain procedures and treatments are improving health outcomes. Having this type of data available also helps dental teams, and the industry as a whole, make sure we are providing equitable, thoughtful, and successful care.
One way the Delta Dental plan network is beginning to do this is by launching, for the first time this year, a Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Survey. The CAHPS Survey gets to the root of the patient experience to better understand what patients feel are the most important parts of their care — from waiting room wait times and customer service, to whether they feel comfortable in the dental chair and pleased with their overall oral health care.
This type of data can give dental practices tangible insights that help improve patient satisfaction and retention. We already know that patients are bringing a more consumer-oriented mindset to their health care — demanding transparency and wanting to know that they can trust the provider in front of them. So the better a dentist can measure the quality of the care they are offering and understand the patient’s perception of their care, the better they can assess whether or not their approach is working.
Ultimately, this shift toward quality measurement reflects the broader oral health evolution toward a patient-centered, value-based model of care that can reduce costs and improve outcomes for everyone.
To learn more about quality measures in dentistry, watch the Pearls of Wisdom episode featuring Joe Dill, Vice President of Dental Science & Network Strategy at Delta Dental Plans Association and Delta Dental of Massachusetts President and CEO, Dennis Leonard.