‘Allied Providers’ Boost the Reach of Dental Practices

‘Allied Providers’ Boost the Reach of Dental Practices

Adding new types of providers to dental offices can expand the reach and profitability of a practice while providing broader access to oral health care for underserved individuals, according to the findings of a report from the Pew Center on the State titled, “It Takes A Team: How New Dental Providers Can Benefit Patients and Practices.”

The traditional working relationship between dental hygienists and dentists suggests new providers, such as dental therapists and hygienist-therapists—or what the report designates as “allied providers”—could integrate in similar fashion. The report outlines how allied providers might take on many of the preventive and restorative services within a dental practice, and thus allow dentists to devote more time to more complex procedures.

The report cites an example of how a general practice would benefit from the addition of allied providers, and projects that such a hiring would generate more than $320,000 in revenue over 244 working days per year. The scenario is based on hiring a dental hygienist, dental therapist, and a hygienist-therapist. One significant way allied providers are shown to help dental practices is by enabling practices to treat Medicaid-insured patients in a way that is financially sustainable by increasing the number of patients seen at the practice each day. The report maintains hygienist-therapists can be trained to provide preventive care and restorative care, and could prove instrumental to the growth of a practice. To read the report and find related information, log on to www.pewcenteronthestates.org/ittakesateam.