DHH Announces Contract Recommendation for Statewide Dental Benefits Program Manager

Friday, March 21, 2014  |  Contact: Olivia Watkin; (225) 610-8660 (cell)

BATON ROUGE -The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals today announced that Managed Care of North America Dental (MCNA) is being recommended for the contract as the Dental Benefits Program Manager to provide dental services for 1.2 million Medicaid and LaCHIP enrollees.

Hiring a Dental Benefits Program Manager will enable Louisiana to improve coordination of access to care and improve dental health outcomes.  The contractor will provide a network of dentists that will provide quality, cost-effective care in addition to member outreach services.  In addition, the Dental Benefits Program Manager will be required to provide education and outreach to dentists, dental hygienists and the state dental association.

"Dental health plays a very important role in increased health outcomes in Louisiana," said DHH Secretary Kathy Kliebert.  "We are very excited that MCNA will be joining the DHH team by managing Medicaid dental benefits.  I know this will increase dental services and quality across our state."

DHH used a competitive procurement process to select MCNA, issuing a Request for Proposals on Jan. 8, 2014.  In total, four companies submitted proposals. The companies that were not selected are:

• 1. Dental Health and Wellness of Louisiana
• 2. DentaQuest
• 3. Delta Dental

DHH used a consensus scoring process to extensively evaluate all proposals. Evaluators reviewed each proposal to examine the proposer's ability to provide services for Medicaid recipients.  The evaluation team then determined scores for each proposal.

MCNA is a dental benefit administrator headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fl.  MCNA Dental Plans has operated as a multi-state dental insurance administrator since 1992 and currently serves over three million members.  MCNA will offer the full range of required core benefits and services currently available to Medicaid and LaCHIP recipients, as outlined in the Louisiana Medicaid State Plan.  Additional benefits above and beyond that core may be offered at the contractor's discretion.  DHH will immediately begin negotiating a contract with MCNA, with the final contract and selection requiring the approval of the Division of Administration.

MCNA will undergo a thorough readiness review before any network can begin providing services to Medicaid recipients.  To ensure network adequacy, MCNA must demonstrate it has a robust network of providers in place to treat patients, sufficient support staff to handle administrative processes and provider relations, and the ability to meet all the deliverables specified in its proposal.  Additionally, the contract requires Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approval because the entity will be responsible for coordinating dental services for eligible children and adults who received these services through Medicaid. MCNA will be reaching out to members with toolkits, phone calls, mail and other communication means.  DHH's original timeline called for implementation to begin May 1, 2014. The department is revisiting that timeline to ensure adequate time exists for readiness reviews and provider and recipient education. DHH is currently aiming for a July 1, 2014 launch.

More information on the Medicaid Dental Benefit Management Program can be found online at www.MakingMedicaidBetter.com.

The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals strives to protect and promote health statewide and to ensure access to medical, preventive and rehabilitative services for all state citizens. To learn more about DHH, visit http://www.new.dhh.louisiana.gov.

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