As a dental consultant, one of the things I find myself talking about more and more with practice owners is how much the dental practice environment has changed over the last couple of years.

The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) is a big part of that conversation.

And I don't think the conversation should simply be about whether a practice participates in the CDCP or not.

The more important question I'm hearing is:

Because from a practice-management perspective, these are three very different things.

I've been following the feedback coming from Ontario dental practices, and the latest Ontario Dental Association (ODA) CDCP pulse survey provides some really interesting insight into what practices are experiencing.

Some of the results are encouraging.

Others should make practice owners stop and take a closer look at their systems.

So I wanted to take the survey results and look at them through the lens I use every day as a dental consultant:

What does this actually mean for your practice?

First, the positive news: access to care is improving

One of the findings that stood out to me was that 8 out of 10 respondents feel access to dental care is better now than before the CDCP launched.

That is important.

At the end of the day, we are in healthcare because we want patients to receive the care they need.

If the CDCP is helping more Canadians access dental care, that is something worth recognizing.

And practices are seeing that increased demand.

The survey found that 45% of respondents reported an increase in patient volumes.

From a business perspective, increased patient volume can obviously be a positive thing.

But here's where I would encourage practice owners to look beyond the number of patients walking through the door.

• More eligibility questions.
• More treatment discussions.
• More estimates.
• More preauthorizations.
• More claim-related questions.
• More communication with patients.
• More follow-up.

And more pressure on your front desk and administrative team.

So if your patient volume has increased, my question would be:

94% of respondents are participating in the CDCP

The survey reports that 94% of respondents are participating in the CDCP, with balance billing identified as one of the factors influencing participation.

That tells me that, for many practices, the CDCP is no longer something they can simply view from the sidelines.

It is becoming part of the everyday practice environment.

And when something becomes part of your everyday workflow, you need a system for managing it.

I often tell practices:

You have a person holding the process together.

That's risky.

• Your front desk team should know what questions to ask.
• Your clinical team should understand when additional information may be required.
• Your treatment coordinator should understand how to communicate financial expectations.
• And your practice manager should be able to identify where things are getting stuck.

That is how you turn a complicated program into a manageable workflow.

Coordination of benefits: another area to watch

The survey also found an increase in the number of respondents reporting patients coordinating benefits with provincial dental programs, with 62% indicating that they have patients coordinating benefits.

Interestingly, respondents also reported greater satisfaction with the coordination-of-benefits process.

That's encouraging.

But from a practice-management perspective, coordination of benefits still requires your team to understand who pays what, in what order, and what the patient may ultimately be responsible for.

The federal government currently provides specific guidance for coordinating CDCP coverage with provincial programs, including programs in Ontario.

This is one of those areas where I would encourage practice owners to make sure the information isn't simply sitting in a government document somewhere.

Turn it into a workflow.

Give your team the tools and information they need.

Because when your team understands the process, the patient experience becomes much smoother.

Now let's talk about the challenge: administration

This is probably the part of the survey that caught my attention the most.

Half of respondents said the CDCP is more administratively burdensome than other dental plans.

And 66% said administrative requirements delay or impede care, particularly because of frequency limits and denied pre authorization requests.

If you work in a dental office, you know exactly what this feels like.

A patient needs treatment.

The dentist has diagnosed the treatment.

The patient is ready to move forward.

And then the administrative process creates another step.

• Someone needs to gather information.
• Someone needs to submit it.
• Someone needs to follow up.
• Someone needs to explain the result to the patient.
• And if the answer is not what everyone expected, someone has to manage that conversation.

That takes time.

And that time comes from somewhere.

Usually, it comes from your team.

This is why I don't look at CDCP administration as simply an insurance issue.

Preauthorization is where your systems really matter

Preauthorization is an area where I would encourage every practice to look carefully at its internal process.

The federal CDCP guidance outlines specific requirements for services requiring preauthorization and the documentation that may need to accompany a request.

So ask yourself:

1. Who identifies that a preauthorization is required?
2. Who gathers the documentation?
3. Who submits it?
4. Who tracks it?
5. Who follows up?
6. Who communicates the result to the patient?
7. And what happens when it is denied?

These questions may sound very basic.

But in my experience, simple questions often uncover the biggest workflow gaps.

If every person in your office handles preauthorizations differently, you're going to have inconsistency.

And inconsistency creates stress, delays and frustration.

Patient communication matters more than ever

There is another part of CDCP that I think deserves more attention:

Patient expectations.

Patients may hear "dental coverage" and assume that means their treatment is completely covered.

That's not necessarily the case.

The CDCP has specific rules around coverage, co-payments, additional amounts and established fees.

I would encourage every practice to look at how your team explains CDCP coverage.

• Are you clearly explaining what is covered?
• Are you explaining what isn't?
• Are you discussing estimated patient costs?
• Are you making it clear that a pre authorization doesn't necessarily mean the final claim will pay exactly what the patient expects?

These conversations aren't always easy.

But avoiding them doesn't make them go away.

Good communication protects the patient relationship.

And that relationship is incredibly valuable.

The concern about employer-sponsored benefits

Another finding worth paying attention to is that 84% of respondents remain concerned that employer-sponsored dental benefits could erode over time because of the CDCP.

That's a much bigger issue than simply looking at today's production numbers.

As practice owners, we need to think beyond the current month.

• What will the benefits landscape look like in the next few years?
• How will patient expectations change?
• How will private insurance evolve?
• How will practices need to adapt?
• And how do we make sure that our practices remain financially sustainable while continuing to provide excellent patient care?

These are strategic practice-management questions.

So, what would I do if I were sitting down with your team?

I wouldn't start by asking:

"Do we like the CDCP?"

I would ask:

I would look at:

Because here's the thing:

If CDCP patients represent a growing portion of your practice, you should understand what that means operationally and financially.

My takeaway as a dental consultant

When I look at these survey results, I don't see a simple story of "CDCP is good" or "CDCP is bad."

I see a dental landscape that is changing.

I see more patients accessing care.

I see practices experiencing increased patient volumes.

And I also see teams dealing with additional administrative requirements and complexities.

For me, the opportunity for dental practices is to stop thinking about CDCP as something that is simply happening to them.

Instead, let's ask:

• How can we make the patient experience clearer?
• How can we reduce unnecessary administrative work?
• How can we make sure our team knows exactly what to do?
• How can we track the financial and operational impact?
• And how can we make informed decisions about the future of our practice?

That's where I believe good dental practice management makes a real difference.

As a dental consultant, I spend a lot of time helping practices look at these questions not just from a clinical perspective, but from the perspective of people, processes, patient experience and profitability.

Because a dental practice is more than a collection of clinical procedures.

It's a business, a workplace, and a healthcare environment all operating at the same time.

And when something as significant as the CDCP changes the way patients access care, it changes the way we need to manage the practice too.

So if you're a practice owner and you're thinking:

"We're seeing more CDCP patients, but my team feels overwhelmed."

or

"We're spending so much time dealing with administration."

or even

"I'm not sure what the CDCP is really doing to our bottom line."

Don't ignore that feeling.

That's information.

That's an opportunity to look at your systems and understand what's really happening inside your practice.

Sometimes you don't need to work harder.

And that's exactly where practice management can make a difference.

A few resources worth keeping close

The Government of Canada's current CDCP provider resources are a good reference for participation, claims, coordination of benefits and preauthorization.

The current CDCP Dental Benefits Guide is also worth closely reviewing as the program and its requirements continue to evolve.

And the Ontario Dental Association's CDCP resources provide additional information for Ontario dental practices, including the Navigating the CDCP resource and information related to coordination of benefits.

If you're participating in the CDCP, I would encourage you to keep your team informed and review your internal processes regularly.

The program may continue to evolve but your practice can be prepared to evolve with it.

As always, this is my perspective as a dental consultant based on the survey information and publicly available CDCP resources. Practices should refer to current federal and provincial guidance for specific program requirements and patient eligibility/coverage decisions.