Marketing de serviços na odontologia: uma diagnóstico das aplicações e das necessidades dos cirurgiões dentistas do Vale do Paraíba / Services marketing in dentistry: a diagnosis of the applications and needs of dentists of Vale do Paraíba

A odontologia está inserida no setor de serviços onde a competitividade pela preferência dos clientes é agressiva. Nesse ambiente, os cirurgiões dentistas vivem o desafio de serem excelentes especialistas e empresários. Sendo assim, diariamente precisam tomar decisões de marketing inerentes ao seu negócio na odontologia. Este trabalho apresenta os resultados da pesquisa, que investigou as aplicações de marketing em clínicas e consultórios odontológicos do Vale do Paraíba. Foram investigadas as percepções, os conhecimentos e as práticas de marketing utilizadas pelos cirurgiões dentistas em suas atividades profissionais. A metodologia combinou revisão de literatura, pesquisa qualitativa e quantitativa onde, os participantes passaram por entrevistas em profundidade, grupo de foco, e um questionário-survey. Os resultados mostram que os cirurgiões dentistas definem marketing como propaganda, divulgação, publicidade e vendas, e 87,5% dos participantes, consideram que o marketing é essencial para o sucesso do seu negócio, porém, apenas 11,1% se consideram capacitados para administrar tais processos. Não conhecer as etapas de planejamento de marketing afeta o desempenho de diversas variáveis ligadas a esse tema, como a comunicação, a formação de preços etc. Entre esses profissionais, 88,7% buscam, por conta própria, a capacitação dessa área para planejar ações para aumentar a sua carteira de clientes. Este estudo permitirá ao cirurgião dentista, a compreensão da importância de conhecer o processo de planejamento de marketing e da sua interdependência com as demais áreas de uma clínica ou consultório. Como consequência, poderá atender melhor aos pacientes, aumentar a sua clientela de forma rentável e satisfatória para ambas as partes, percebendo a importância de atrair e capacitar funcionários, controlar custos, promover inovações, tanto para o alcance de objetivos relacionados aos negócios, quanto benefícios sociais(AU)

Dentistry is part of the service sector where competitiveness customer preference is aggressive. In this environment, dental surgeons face the challenge of being excellent experts and entrepreneurs. Therefore, they need to make marketing decisions inherent to their dental business on a daily basis. This paper presents the results of my research, which investigated the marketing applications in Paraíba Valley dental clinics. The perception, knowledge and marketing practices used by dentists in their professional activities were surveyed. The methodology combined literature review, qualitative and quantitative research where 88 respondents participated in in-depth interviews, focus group, and a survey questionnaire. The results show that dental surgeons define marketing as advertising, publicity, advertising and sales, where 87.5% of participants consider marketing essential to the success of their business, but only 11.1% consider themselves able to manage marketing processes. The survey showed that 89.9% of participants never had contact with any marketing discipline during their graduation, and that use 10 ways to meet the need for this knowledge. Dental surgeons have not learned about marketing during their training but are required to make important decisions in this area. Not knowing the marketing planning process affects the performance of several variables related to this theme, such as communication, pricing, etc. These professionals seek knowledge of this field to plan actions related to advertising, disclosure, advertising and sales to increase their customer base. However, 93.33% of respondents do not have a formal and detailed marketing plan to cover a 12-month period. They do not know how to execute this process, yet 88.7% do their own marketing actions on their own. This study will allow the dentist to understand the importance of knowing the marketing planning process and its interdependence with other areas of a clinic or consulting room. Thus, it will be able to better serve patients, increase their customers, in the profitable and satisfactory way for both sides. Also, it will help then to realize the importance of attracting and empowering employees, control costs promote innovations for their business goals and social benefits(AU)

More Rhode Island Adults Have Dental Coverage After the Medicaid Expansion: Did More Adults Receive Dental Services? Did More Dentists Provide Services?

OBJECTIVE: Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansion since 2014, 68,000 more adults under age 65 years were enrolled in Rhode Island Medicaid as of December 2015, a 78% increase from 2013 enrollment. This report assesses changes in dental utilization associated with this expansion. METHODS: Medicaid enrollment and dental claims for calendar years 2012-2015 were extracted from the RI Medicaid Management Information System. Among adults aged 18-64 years, annual numbers and percentages of Medicaid enrollees who received any dental service were summarized. Additionally, dental service claims were assessed by provider type (private practice or health center). RESULTS: Although 15,000 more adults utilized dental services by the end of 2015, the annual percentage of Medicaid enrollees who received any dental services decreased over the reporting periods, compared to pre-ACA years (2012-13: 39%, 2014: 35%, 2015: 32%). From 2012 to 2015, dental patient increases in community health centers were larger than in private dental offices (78% vs. 34%). Contrary to the Medicaid population increase, the number of dentists that submitted Medicaid claims decreased, particularly among dentists in private dental offices; the percentage of RI private dentists who provided any dental service to adult Medicaid enrollees decreased from 29% in 2012 to 21% in 2015. CONCLUSION: Implementation of Medicaid expansion has played a critical role in increasing the number of Rhode Islanders with dental coverage, particularly among low-income adults under age 65. However, policymakers must address the persistent and worsening shortage of dental providers that accept Medicaid to provide a more accessible source of oral healthcare for all Rhode Islanders. [Full article available at http://rimed.org/rimedicaljournal-2017-10.asp].

Estimating Premium and Out-of-Pocket Outlays Under All Child Dental Coverage Options in the Federally Facilitated Marketplace.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate premium and out-of-pocket costs for child dental care services under various dental coverage options offered within the federally facilitated marketplace. STUDY DESIGN: We estimated premium and out-of-pocket costs for child dental care services for 12 patient profiles, which vary by dental care use and spending. We did this for 1039 medical plans that include child dental coverage, 2703 medical plans that do not include child dental coverage, and 583 stand-alone dental plans for the 2015 plan year. Our analysis is based on plan data from the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight and Data.HealthCare.Gov. RESULTS: On average, expected total financial outlays for child dental care services were lower when dental coverage was embedded within a medical plan compared with the alternative of a stand-alone dental plan. The difference, however, in average expected out-of-pocket spending varied significantly for our 12 patient profiles. Older children who are very high users of dental care, for example, have lower expected out-of-pocket costs under a stand-alone dental plan. For the vast majority of other age groups and dental care use profiles, the reverse holds. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that embedding dental coverage within medical plans, on average, results in lower total financial outlays for child beneficiaries. Although our results are specific to the federally facilitated marketplace, they hold lessons for both state-based marketplaces and the general private health insurance and dental benefits market, as well.

The impact of health economic evaluations in Sweden.

The responsibility for healthcare in Sweden is shared by the central government, county councils and municipalities. The counties and municipalities are free to make their own prioritizations within the framework of the state healthcare laws. To guide prioritization of healthcare resources in Sweden, there is consensus that cost-effectiveness constitutes one of the three principles. The objective of this paper is to describe how cost-effectiveness, and hence health economic evaluations (HEE), have a role in pricing decisions, reimbursement of pharmaceuticals as well as the overall prioritization and allocation of resources in the Swedish healthcare system. There are various organizations involved in the processes of implementing health technologies in the Swedish healthcare system, several of which consider or produce HEEs when assessing different technologies: the Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency (TLV), the county councils' group on new drug therapies (NLT), the National Board of Health and Welfare, the Swedish Council on Health Technology Assessment (SBU), regional HTA agencies and the Public Health Agency of Sweden. The only governmental agency that has official and mandatory guidelines for how to perform HEE is TLV (LFNAR 2003:2). Even though HEEs may seem to have a clear and explicit role in the decision-making processes in the Swedish healthcare system, there are various obstacles and challenges in the use and dissemination of the results.

The demand for preventive and restorative dental services.

Chronic tooth decay is the most common chronic condition in the United States among children ages 5-17 and also affects a large percentage of adults. Oral health conditions are preventable, but less than half of the US population uses dental services annually. We seek to examine the extent to which limited dental coverage and high out-of-pocket costs reduce dental service use by the nonelderly privately insured and uninsured. Using data from the 2001-2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and an American Dental Association survey of dental procedure prices, we jointly estimate the probability of using preventive and both basic and major restorative services through a correlated random effects specification that controls for endogeneity. We found that dental coverage increased the probability of preventive care use by 19% and the use of restorative services 11% to 16%. Both conditional and unconditional on dental coverage, the use of dental services was not sensitive to out-of-pocket costs. We conclude that dental coverage is an important determinant of preventive dental service use, but other nonprice factors related to consumer preferences, especially education, are equal if not stronger determinants.

Is accessing dental care becoming more difficult? Evidence from Canada's middle-income population.

OBJECTIVE: To explore trends in access to dental care among middle-income Canadians. METHODS: A secondary data analysis of six Canadian surveys that collected information on dental insurance coverage, cost-barriers to dental care, and out-of-pocket expenditures for dental care was conducted for select years from 1978 to 2009. Descriptive analyses were used to outline and compare trends among middle-income Canadians with other levels of income as well as national averages. RESULTS: By 2009, middle-income Canadians had the lowest levels of dental insurance coverage (48.7%) compared to all other income groups. They reported the greatest increase in cost-barriers to dental care, from 12.6% in 1996 to 34.1% by 2009. Middle-income Canadians had the largest rise in out-of-pocket expenditures for dental care since 1978. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that affordability issues in accessing dental care are no longer just a problem for the lowest income groups in Canada, but are now impacting middle-income earners as a consequence of their lack of, or decreased access to, comprehensive dental insurance.

Potential future elements of dental care financing--a third-party payer's perspective.

The future of dental care financing may take on many changes in the future. These changes will likely have a dramatic affect on how dental care is delivered, reported and paid. Consumers and purchasers are keenly focused on price. In addition, areas of key focus in the dental benefits industry will be compensation, metrics and wellness initiatives, which will likely lead to high levels of transparency, accountability and development of the capability to report measurable outcomes.