Dental insurer and benefits administrator Dominion National has expanded benefits for dental members and payments to participating dentists through the rest of the year to help offset the impact of COVID-19.
Due to the pandemic, dentists have experienced lower patient volumes and increased costs for enhanced infectious disease control. Dominion is offering the following benefits to counteract COVID-19's impact:
- Prevention rewards: This is an incentive to encourage members to get back to the dentist. All commercial-group preferred provider organization (PPO) and exclusive PPO (ePPO) dental clients who receive one in-network cleaning between June 15 and December 31 will be offered a $20 cash reward.
- Increased annual maximum: The increase is to help offset when members were not able to visit the dentist. Dominion is increasing annual maximums for in-network services by 25% for all commercial-group PPO and ePPO fully insured members for the remainder of 2020.
- Teledentistry coverage extension: Benefits for in-network teledentistry consultations will be covered through the end of the year. Coverage is for limited and problem-focused evaluation and reevaluation (codes D0140, D0170, and D0171).
- Personal protective equipment (PPE) payment for dentists: To help offset the cost of PPE, Dominion will provide payments to its participating dentists of $5 per in-network PPO, ePPO, or Preventive covered plan. PPE includes N95 masks, gowns, and other protective equipment designed to help with infectious disease control due to COVID-19. PPE payments will begin for services starting June 15 and may extend through the end of the year.
The company noted that prevention reward and PPE payments are subject to change based on state mandates and experience.
