With no one left behind
2023 Mission Impact Reflection
Delta Dental of Washington
To every person, dental practice, employer, and organization that is connected to Delta Dental of Washington, this one’s for you. We are excited to share some of the ways we, together with you, made progress in 2023 toward our vision that all people enjoy good oral health with no one left behind.
We are honored to fund and partner with Arcora Foundation, Washington’s largest oral health foundation. Additionally, we work every day to ensure the way in which we deliver dental benefits fosters our mission, by incentivizing prevention and removing barriers to accessing care. Finally, we are proud to also showcase some of the community-focused programs, dental workforce initiatives, and partnerships in which we invested in 2023.
Too many people still suffer from the pain of oral disease, which impacts learning, employability, overall health, and wellbeing. There is much to do, and we appreciate your collaboration. If you have questions or ideas about improving oral health, please reach out!
Delta Dental of Washington Mission
We disrupt, transform, and revolutionize the oral health industry to remove barriers to healthcare and improve overall health.
Vanetta Abdellatif,
President and CEO of Arcora Foundation
Arcora Foundation is thrilled to partner with Delta Dental of Washington to achieve our shared vision of Oral and Overall Health for all. We are excited to share our progress alongside our community partners and Delta Dental of Washington towards greater equity and health for every Washingtonian. Please check out our 2024 Community report to learn more about Arcora's work.
The Power of Prevention
A healthy smile is a healthy you, and nothing keeps your smile healthy like routine preventive care.
Congratulations to our members who had a preventive care visit with their dentist in 2023! Member dentist partners completed 2,325,436 preventive services for Delta Dental members. Well done!
Dental visits within the last 12 months
More dental visits and preventive care cont.
Delta Dental of Washington members are more likely to have a recent dental visit and more likely for the visit to be for preventive care.
This may be one reason that, nationally, Delta Dental members are highly satisfied with their dentists. In 2023, the Consumer Assessment of HealthCare Providers (CAHPS) Dental Plan showed members rate their Delta Dental Member Dentist an average of 9.5 out of 10!
Percentage of patients whose last dental visit was for routine check-up or cleaning
Encouraging Prevention
Our dental plans emphasize cost-effective preventive care, including services geared toward early detection and intervention such as routine dental check-ups, cleanings, and X-rays.
We partner with employer organizations to curate oral health programs that most effectively address their population’s unique needs. In 2023, we delivered customized campaigns for 34 groups including partnering with one large employer to deploy mobile dentistry to 25 of their national call centers for employees in need of routine preventive care.
MySmile® , your personalized and secure online account: providing easy access to useful information like your virtual member ID, coverages estimates, and more. Members utilizing MySmile are 9% more likely to have preventive care visits.
Reimbursement model rewards prevention
We focus provider reimbursement increases on outcomes that matter to patients, employers, and providers.
In 2020 we launched a Provider Reimbursement Model (PRM) which centers and rewards routine preventive care. Provider surveys indicate greater satisfaction with the PRM. Claims data show that prevention is increasing for practices on the PRM. Member Dentists are realizing higher reimbursement at a time when practice costs are on the rise. We’ve invested $107 Million in additional reimbursements since 2020, with $34M of this investment effective in 2024. Incentivizing preventive care is at the core of the PRM and our annual investments in provider reimbursement.
Our Tooth Fairies fly around to schools and communities
In academic year ending in 2023, our popular Tooth Fairy Experience program visited 80 Title I schools, exciting over 13,500 students about brushing, flossing, and going to the dentist.
Our real-live tooth fairies travel the state, engaging K-2 learners in story book readings, activities, and presentations to get them excited about oral health and preventing tooth decay.
We value comprehensive healthcare for our members. This includes regular preventive vision exams alongside oral healthcare. Just as maintaining good oral health is essential for overall wellbeing, ensuring good vision through regular check-ups is equally important.
Open Wide
All people deserve access to the routine dental care that helps keep their smiles healthy.
We are thankful that 90 percent of Washington’s dentists are part of the Delta Dental of Washington network, the largest network of dentists with over 4,800 dentists in 2023!
Dental coverage with no one left behind
Not everyone has access to dental benefits through their employer. To ensure that no one gets left behind, we offer coverage for individuals and families in many different ways. We are the largest provider of dental benefits on the WA Health Exchange.
We launched our new Interactive Plan Finder tool to match users with the dental plan that best fits their oral health needs and benefit preferences. And our new My.DeltaDentalCoversMe.com online account portal allows individual and family plan members to access their personalized benefits dashboard, Explanation of Benefits, statements, and more. In 2023, 25% more people accessed coverage through these plan options. This is great news because people with dental coverage are 3x more likely to access dental care!
Community health programs to increase access
Access to Baby and Child Dentistry (ABCD) connected 145,000 children in Washington state to dental care. ABCD is a public-private partnership of Arcora Foundation, Washington Health Care Authority, University of Washington School of Dentistry, dental providers, and others for Apple Health (Medicaid) insured children from birth up to age 6 and children ages 6-12 with special health care needs.
DentistLink connected more than 65,000 users to unique referrals to care. During the 2023 legislative session, Arcora and their partners secured funding to continue this public-private partnership. DentistLink is a no-cost referral service that connects people to dental care whether they have insurance, including Apple Health (Medicaid), or not.
Arcora’s inaugural culturally appropriate care trainings reached 92 dental providers. These trainings help strengthen provider-patient relationships, promote better health outcomes, and meet Washington state's requirement that all health care professionals take a health equity course beginning in 2024.
Addressing dental workforce shortage
Staffing vacancies continue to be a significant stressor for dental practices, impacting access to care for patients.
During the 2023 legislative session, we joined the Washington State Dental Association and the Washington State Dental Hygienist Association to successfully support the passage of the dental hygiene compact, easing the process for hygienists from other states to practice in Washington.
Lake Washington Institute of Technology (LWTech) launched a Dental Assisting program offering both online and in-person classes, with support from Delta Dental. Pending approval from the Commission on Dental Accreditation, LWTech will be expanding their dental hygienist program in 2025.
Storm Academy
Our youth awareness program introduces young people from historically underrepresented groups to the dental professions. In partnership with organizations including the Seattle Storm, we reached over 800 youth in 2023.
Pacific Northwest University
In 2022, Delta Dental of Washington was honored to commit $12 million to Pacific Northwest University (PNWU) as part of our mission to expand access to oral health care, particularly in rural and other medically underserved communities. In 2023, we broke ground for PNWU’s innovative new school of dental medicine that will launch in 2025, following the construction of Delta Dental Equity Hall.
Meeting patients where they are
We are honored to partner with dental professionals to serve the community. In 2023 the Seattle/King County Dental Clinic provided free dental care to 1,609 patients. Visual: photo of Delta Dental’s presence at Clinic.
In alliance with 8 school-based oral health program community organizations across Washington state, our Innovation Team kicked off the School-Based Oral Health Program Learning Collaborative. The 2-year Collaborative aims to improve oral health of elementary aged children. The culmination will be a comprehensive resource for stakeholders of best practices, solutions, and lessons learned.
Sharing Smiles
Partnering with the community to provide greater access to oral health
Many factors impact our oral health such as the availability of affordable and nutritious foods, accessibility of healthcare services, equitable policies and systems, and community water fluoridation. No single organization can address these factors alone. We were honored to support the important work of community-based and health organizations in 2023 to contribute to healthier communities. Thank you to our 2023 partners!
2023 Community-based and health partners
Thank you to our 2023 partners!
Partnership Success Stories
Poor oral health is a risk factor for heart attack and stroke. As Chair of the 2023 American Heart Association Heart and Stroke Walk, we helped raise $1.15M for the Puget Sound chapter of the American Heart Association including initiatives that promote food security and healthy eating.
Investing in our Team
Disrupting, Transforming and Revolutionizing the Oral Health Industry – an inside job
At Delta Dental of Washington, we know that the change we want to see starts from within and from continually learning and leaning into our mission, vision, and values.
While in many ways our work is only beginning, we’re proud of the progress we’ve made as #OneTeam—including being in the top quartile nationally for employee engagement! Source: Kincentric
Our paid internship program
Our summer paid internship program was an opportunity to learn alongside 5 individuals who are embarking on a new career. We love working for a mission-driven organization, and we enjoyed sharing this experience with the interns who joined us.
Living our Diversity Equity and Inclusion values
We provide continual training and resources to our employees to build on our OneTeam Value of inclusion. This year, we provided training to our entire organization through a 3-part series on Inclusion and Belonging Across Cultures. Our employees lead a Diversity Equity and Inclusion Community to learn, grow, and celebrate one another. This year our organization provided professional growth opportunities for the leaders of this community to invigorate our community and help facilitate conversations in the workplace.
Living our Diversity Equity and Inclusion values cont.
Being a DEI Core Group Leader these past 2 years has been such a gratifying, enlightening and enriching experience for me. I’ve gotten so much experience, training and opportunity that I would not otherwise have had access to. It has really helped me sharpen my presenting and negotiating skills, while at the same time broadening my perspective and allowing me a chance to further develop my authentic leadership skills.
It has helped me grow in mind and spirit.
