It's always nice to get something at a low price. Sometimes you can even
get high valued items on sale below cost. But what happens when a valuable
service is on sale below cost all the time? Quality and value suffer. This
is exactly how the insurance industry is influencing health care and dental
care with price controls.
While insurance industry executives blame the high cost of health care on
high compensation of doctors, what is really happening? Insurance executives
are drawing 7 and 8 figure salaries with stock options, bonuses and perks
while doctors are experiencing double digit decreases.
How is a dental patient affected when the dentist isn't successful? First
of all, the dentist has to see more patients in the same amount of time so
the patient has to wait to be seen while the dentist dashes from room to
room seeing multiple patients. Second, the dentist is going to have to cut
labor costs so the staff is going to be underpaid, undertrained and unmotivated.
Next, the dentist is going to have to save in other areas such as new technology,
materials, furnishings, supplies and facilities. Finally, the dentist won't
be able to afford the hands-on continuing education to provide the latest
innovative techniques in the profession. The patient suffers from all these
cutbacks.
There are other ways the patient suffers that aren't quite as obvious. When
dentists are underpaid, they have to choose cheaper dental laboratories to
make their crowns and bridges and quality suffers here, too. When dentists
can't afford the latest technology, high tech dental manufacturing firms
go out of business, denying the public from benefitting from the latest research
and development. Finally, dental schools go out of business as they have
in recent years because the best and the brightest students don't want to
study hard for low pay and the dental schools rely on donations from successful
alumni to stay open.
If dentists did not sign up for low cost insurance contracts, none of these
problems would exist. Patient care would be outstanding, service would be
great, materials would be the best and dental schools would attract the best
candidates to secure a bright future. This is why many of the top cosmetic
dentists do not affiliate with insurance companies who impose fee restrictions.
Dr. Bernstein is a longtime Piedmont resident in private practice 2 blocks
from Cal Piedmont. He is a clinical instructor at the world renowned Las Vegas
Institute for Advanced Dental Studies and his practice focuses on Cosmetic
Dentistry and 5 star guest services. Dr. Bernstein can be reached at 848-SMILE
(848-7645) and at
www.allnewsmiles.com.
