Delta Dental, one of Wisconsin’s largest dental insurance companies, recently completed the acquisition of Cherry Tree Dental, a Madison-based company with more than 30 branch clinics, a move that has sparked widespread doubts in the national dental industry.
About three weeks ago, when the acquisition was officially completed, many dentists were concerned that the blurring of the identities of medical service providers and insurance companies could lead to conflicts of interest.
The American Dental Association pointed out in a statement: “When insurance companies are both medical service providers and insurance payers, there is a risk of potential conflicts of interest.”
The statement also emphasized that “insurance companies tend to control costs and increase profits, which may lead to patients’ treatment options being limited by economic benefits rather than the best choice for oral health.”
In response to external concerns, Jed Roher, chief legal officer of Delta Dental in Wisconsin, said that this situation where insurance companies also own clinics is very rare in the dental industry, but it is not unfamiliar in some comprehensive medical systems.
He stressed that “strict rules and regulations have been established to regulate the interaction between insurance operations and clinics to ensure mutual independence.”
Roch pointed out that “Cherry Tree Dental has an independent leadership team responsible for contracting and reimbursement negotiations with insurance companies, and Delta Dental does not participate in these decisions. The choice of clinical treatment is still decided by dentists and patients together.”
It is reported that since its establishment in 2006, Cherry Tree Dental has expanded to 25 branches in Wisconsin, 4 in Illinois, and 1 each in Michigan and Minnesota.
Its Wisconsin clinics are mainly distributed in the central region, including Wausau, Eau Claire, La Crosse and Green Bay.
Mark Paget, executive director of the Wisconsin Dental Association, said that the association did not receive any prior notice of the acquisition, and the association’s 3,100 members expressed serious concerns about this.
Paget pointed out that Wisconsin is one of the few states that allows non-dentists to own dental clinics. “Legal does not mean reasonable, and we hope that this will not affect the relationship between patients and dentists.”
Dr. Emily Ekdal, a local Brookfield dentist, was also shocked by this, worrying that the focus of the clinic’s operation will be on profit rather than patient interests.
She believes that this is also an opportunity to review and improve the state’s dental clinic ownership regulations. “Today, only 20 clinics have been acquired. If there are hundreds or thousands in the future, it will have a profound impact on the entire industry.”
Paget believes that the law is difficult to change in the short term, but hopes that the supervision will be more transparent to protect the rights of patients. “We need to ensure sufficient firewalls and transparent mechanisms to prevent payers from interfering with treatment plans.”
