News

DSO implements incentivized insurance plans Delta Dental of Arizona announced six new dental insurance plans for individuals and families. Delta Dental of AZ reduced waiting periods on its traditional dental plans, ensuring that members have full access to covered benefits within their first year on the plan. Although most of the new offerings are traditional plan designs, two of the plans reward members for maintaining dental coverage. With these incentive plans, the amount members pay for covered services decreases for the first 3 years they are enrolled in the plan. There are no waiting periods on the incentive plans, so members have full access to covered benefits from day one. Heartland Dental introduces new leadership summit for dental students Heartland Dental (Chicago, IL) introduced LAUNCH, a leadership conference for dental students. More than 200 third-year and fourth-year dental school students applied, and just over 100 were selected for the all-expenses-paid, two-day event held in Chicago July 13-14. LAUNCH was designed to propel students thinking about leadership traits that can ensure a thriving dental career. Rick Workman, DMD, Founder and Executive Chairman, Heartland Dental, was the keynote speaker. Attending students represented more than 50 of the nations dental schools. The conference also featured Author, Lecturer & President of Sanborn & Associates Inc, Mark Sanborn, and improv group Second City Works. Highmark Health names Karen Hanlon to newly created position of COO Highmark Health (Pittsburgh, PA) named Karen Hanlon to the newly created position of COO. Hanlon has been with the company since 1997 and has been EVP and CFO since 2014. In this expanded role, Hanlon will add oversight for HM Health Solutions and Highmark Health Analytics and Informatics to her current responsibilities, which include Gateway Health and the Penn State Health alliance, which was formed in 2017. She will succeed David Holmberg as chairman of the board of HM Health Solutions. Hanlon will continue to serve as chief financial officer and treasurer during a national search for her replacement. Mission of Mercy assists nearly 1,200 dental patients in Maryland Dental professionals from across the state of Maryland gathered at a local high school last weekend for the Southern Maryland Mission of Mercy, an opportunity for local residents with little or no insurance to receive quality dental care. The event drew around 600 people each day. More than 20 businesses and nonprofits partnered with the Mission of Mercy team, funding the operation and generating 1,000 volunteers. There are four of these free clinics across the state, divided by region and occurring once every two years. Residents ages 19 and older are permitted after being medically cleared, and there is always a pharmacy present to provide any necessary pain medications or antibiotics. The event offers hygiene, restoration and extraction services, all funded by private donations through the related state organizations.