Managed Care

A Wake-Up Call

Gary Wiser, DMD, MS, MBA

The following is excerpted from an article in the Journal of the New Jersey Dental Association (Volume 67/Number3)  

In my opinion, managed care participation has caused the purchase of dental treatment to be regarded by most consumers as simply another commodity; totally price driven, as opposed to a professional service where quality of care becomes a critical variable.

The profits do not flow to the practitioners, they enrich the large corporations who sell the managed cost insurance.

Our relegation to an employee status and the suppression of the free market philosophy are, in my view, undermining the dental profession. I think the important questions for the dental profession are,

"How long is this going to continue?" and "What can I do about it?"

. . . .The second question is, of course, the more difficult for me to answer, especially in the absence of a crystal ball that can forecast the future reaction of a majority of the dental community as managed care continues its neoplastic expansion throughout our profession. . .

Dentists are an above-average group financially, and are well-educated. The time has come for each of us to utilize our intelligence. One by one, we should exercise our strengths as a respected health care profession(al) before we are relegated to employee status.