https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEcKkM2Qcn4

Our transcript of the discussion between Lois Banta and Jameson Files host Carrie Webber has been lightly edited for flow. To enjoy the audio conversation, you can watch on YouTube or listen to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, or Spotify.

Utilizing Your Dental Practice’s “Why” to Help Navigate Relationships with PPOs

Carrie :

Welcome to the Jameson Files. I'm your host, Carrie Webber. Thank you so much for joining us once again for another episode, or perhaps for the first time. We are certainly so glad to have you with us as we continue to bring information and resources and experts to you to help you be as productive, as profitable, and as fulfilled in your dental practicing life as you can possibly be. Today, I am so excited. We are coming to you from the Jamon offices in Oklahoma City, and look who I have here, our dear friend and colleague in the dental realm, Lois Banta. 

Lois Banta:

So excited to be here and doing this with you for the first time. A real honor, and I'm sure we'll share a few giggles.

Carrie :

Maybe so. We just need to try and keep ourselves under control. We'll see.There are no rules in this. I'm just so glad to see you face-to-face and to have you in the room with me. This surprised us because we have collaborated together, and we have Lois as a guest educator and presenter on the Grow pathway that is launching as we speak on the very popular and needed topic of how to navigate PPO relationships in your practice. It’s going to be a phenomenal resource for all of you that are on Jameson's Grow learning platform. We’re very excited to share your knowledge with the members of Grow. 

How to Make Healthy Decisions about Your Relationship with PPOs in Your Practice

Today we're going to dip our toe into that topic a little bit because it only seems right to keep carrying forward the conversation that we've started here about PPOs. How do you navigate those relationships? How do you make healthy decisions about your relationship with PPOs in your practice? Do you have one? Do we need to perhaps step out of one? Do we need to do something different in the months and the years to come to help you in your pursuit of your ideal practice vision? Really, that's what it all comes down to.

Lois Banta:

It's such an important decision to make, and it’s one of the most difficult decisions that practices in our industry make. It’s scary. There's a lot of thought that has to go into it, and if you don't do it the right way, you could lose all your patients. So it's a pretty serious topic right now, especially with the insurance reimbursements being lowered across the board with many of the plans. Practices are taking a really big financial hit. It's really time to consider where you are in that relationship and where you want to go.

Carrie :

It's interesting because you've been educating dentists and teams for a long time, 23 years now. Jameson has been in the industry as a company for 32 years, and over those years, the landscape has really, really changed. We're seeing this continuous shift, and truly two paths diverged in a woods, and you need to decide what path to take. As you’ve said, it really has to align with your “why”.

Lois Banta:

Yes. You have to be very passionate about why you're making the decision. As soon as you can wrap your heart around your “why", the decision becomes fairly easy, but you still have to pay very close attention to the process in making that decision. But ultimately, back in the day when insurance was even invented, I think in the seventies, there really weren't a lot of in-network plans. It was just insurance coverage, and it typically covered most of the patient's dental care for a 12 month period. And now those maximums haven't changed, not because of the insurance industry, but because of employers' budgets not wanting to pay high premiums for those benefits.