Here were are in 2019.
DMOs started in 2012 without RFP
Medicaid dental managed care in Texas began in early 2012 as a government response to the multi-million dollar orthodontic spending debacle that erupted in 2011 which also provided the impetus for the formation of TDMR (Dental Medicaid providers were being unfairly accused of fraud without due process).
Three companies, without request for proposal, were given contracts to take over dental services from the Texas Medicaid Healthcare Partnership, led by Xerox, and their fee-for-service arrangement. The three were MCNA, DentaQuest and Delta Dental. Delta Dental dropped out soon after.
Still waiting for announcement of contract awards from 2018 RFP
Today, we are waiting for the announcement of which companies will be awarded contracts from the RFP finally put out last October, almost seven years later.
Will MCNA and DentaQuest continue? Will there be new or additional players?
We are waiting with bated breath. The effective date for the new contract is supposed to be September 2019. So we should hopefully hear soon.
Previous DMO surveys
For the last several years, TDMR has issued an annual satisfaction survey on the performance of the current DMOs and published the results. You can review the past survey results: 2018, 2017.
In a nutshell, MCNA was initially hated with its payment holds and has improved over the years. DentaQuest performed better and seemed more provider oriented but that image diminished over time.
2019 DMO survey
To find out how things stand today, we are issuing our Texas Medicaid Dental Maintenance Organization Annual Survey 2019.
The survey is for Medicaid dentists and is anonymous. It is entirely on the honor system. Unlike last year, we are not going to attempt to ensure that those taking the survey are in fact Medicaid dentists. It was too much trouble and reduced the number of those willing to take the survey.
So if you are a Medicaid dentist, we hope you will take the survey:
PS: For all Medicaid providers, we will be issuing a Texas Medicaid satisfaction survey after this one has closed.