The Explorer Winter 2018 Explorer Winter 2018 | Page 14

CDA ADDRESSES QUESTIONS ABOUT CHANGES IN PROVIDER CONTRACTING (CONT.)
liability insurance coverage, aren’t
practicing under a suspended license
and are not on probation. And associate
contracting assures the plan’s ability to
audit treatment and billing done for the
associate.
Because of these requirements to
contract with practice associates, some
practice owners have considered
bringing independent-contractor
dentists into the practice. These are
dentists who bring their own practices
under the roof of the dental practice.
They bring their own plan contracts,
they tend to be specialists who bring
their specialty expertise into general
dental practices, and they submit their
own claims.
CONTRACTING NEW PRACTICE
OWNERS
It is a myth that when a dentist
purchases a practice from another
dentist, the new owner to some extent
inherits the contract status of the
previous owner. This is not the case
with any plan in California. A
previously noncontracted provider who
purchases a practice — and this could
be a dentist moving into the area and
purchasing an existing practice or an
associate with a practice who steps up to
buy the practice of a retiring dentist —
will need to establish their own contract
with whatever plans they desire to do
business with.
However, this isn’t the case with every
dental plan. Some dental plans allow for
“portability” of a dentist’s existing
contract. If a dentist has been
contracted with some plans, either as an
associate in the practice they are buying
or contracted in another location in
California, that contract status will
follow the dentist to their new location
and be applie