Getting the Most Out of the Preventistry Patient Report
We're kicking off an exciting new era in Preventistry to help providers ensure patients are getting the preventive care they need. Here's everything you need to know about the Preventistry Patient Report and why you should use it in your practice.
Preventive care is the basis of good health, and as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of that care – and oral health’s impact on overall health – is more important than ever.
This month, Delta Dental of Massachusetts kicked off an exciting new Preventistry initiative to help providers ensure that higher risk patients are getting the regular preventive care they need. The Preventistry Patient Report helps general and pediatric dentists identify patients at risk of dental disease to ensure they are receiving preventive care. Especially after a year in which many people have delayed preventive health care, the report can be a valuable tool to help dentists get patients back into the dental chair.
The Preventistry Patient Report is the first step toward sharing data to give dentists the information they need to help support patient care. The reports leverage claims data to offer individual, general and pediatric dentists their own customized report listing their patients who are due for preventive care.
This is not a one-time thing – it will be available in February of each year, and then again in August.
Derived from claims data submitted over the previous six months, the reports provide an at-a-glance view of the patient’s information, including the most recent date of the recommended preventive treatments, so dentists can easily identify the patients who have not received the recommended therapy and contact them to return for treatment – and keep them coming back.
For example, for pediatric dentists, the report will identify existing patients who have had a restoration or service indicative of caries, and then indicate when the patients were last in for fluoride and if that visit falls outside of recommended periodic visits. Providers, then, can use this information to make their patient outreach more personalized and more informed.
These reports, and Preventistry as a whole, support dentists by giving them a means to engage and educate patients about the importance of preventive care and the link between oral and overall health; by designing benefits that remove barriers to care and encouraging patients to get the right care for their personal health situation; and providing more data to dentists about their patients so they can engage more consistently and proactively.
As we know, dentists play a critical role in helping to improve and maintain the oral and overall health of their patients. The Preventistry Patient Report is one more tool toward achieving that goal.
Long term, we hope that Preventistry will lead to impactful changes within our oral health care system, including preventive care that prioritizes whole-person health, and a system that rewards better outcomes instead of costly procedures.
Ultimately, it’s a future filled with smarter data, personalized care and better health for all.
Delta Dental of Massachusetts providers can access their individual Preventistry Report and additional information via the Provider Portal.
To learn more about Preventistry, watch the Pearls of Wisdom episode featuring Dr. Linda Vidone, VP of Clinical Management for Delta Dental of Massachusetts, and Delta Dental of Massachusetts President and CEO, Dennis Leonard.