EDI hosts "United Nations of Providers and Payers" event to bring nation's largest dental groups together

Oct 6 2009

EDI Health Group, Inc., (EHG), a provider of enhanced connectivity, streamlined technology and transaction solutions for patients, payers and providers in the dental industry, hosted its first "United Nations of Providers and Payers" on August 27, 2009. This event brought together representatives from many of the nation's largest dental groups and selected payers to discuss needed improvements in operational efficiencies and quality of transaction services between the organizations.

Many of the dental industry's largest payers, which included the Delta Dental Plans Association, Guardian Life and Health, United Healthcare, Cigna, Delta Dental of California, and Ameritas, joined QSI, a practice management vendor representing 2,000 locations, and multiple group dental practices representing 1,208 locations and 2,420 providers in the daylong summit. This unprecedented gathering engaged the groups in discussions on how the payers and providers could work together to immediately implement changes to improve the efficiency of the billing process, guarantee an ROI for the payer and enhance utilization by the provider groups. As a result of the discussions, payers including Guardian, United Healthcare, and Delta Dental of California pledged to incorporate changes into their eligibility and benefit transactions which would immediately increase the value of their EDI transactions, potentially saving millions of dollars in annual costs for all involved parties.

"Bringing together many of the nation's largest dental insurance companies and dental provider groups in this face-to-face forum was quite an honor for us," stated EHG President Scott Wellwood. "We're enthused by the level of dedication and commitment shown by the participants to work together. By improving their transactional processes and data content, the industry will see greater EDI utilization. This increased level of service and lower transactional costs will ultimately benefit consumers. The willingness of all of the participants involved to not only attend and actively participate in discussions, but to take significant, impactful action items back to their organizations made this event an overwhelming success for all involved."

"The post-event response that we've received from the participants has been beyond our every expectation with nearly every attendee agreeing to jump on 'The Bus'," explained LeAnn Eyres, Director of Partner Relations at EHG. "There was much accomplished at the event in terms of airing the issues that negatively impact the efficiency of the EDI billing cycle. By understanding that many of the technical/IT teams at the payers never get the opportunity to meet the provider and their EDI/billing teams and receive such direct feedback and requirements, we feel that both sides now have greater empathy for the challenges each face. We still have some work to do to gain faith from both sides, but this summit was only the beginning of an extended process to identify and implement procedures and technology that will enable these organizations to effectively eliminate eligibility verification call volume."

SOURCE EDI Health Group, Inc.