Giving your dentist a checkup

A plan by Australia’s fifth largest private health insurer - the 800,000 member strong - NIB to launch a website ranking allied health providers based on feedback from patients has been, regrettably, criticised by the country's peak doctors group, the Australian Medical Association.

NIB expects its new service, whitecoat.com.au, to go live by the end of June 2011, allowing all Australians, NIB members or not, to compare and contrast healthcare specialists coast to coast based on patient satisfaction, location and cost.

Initially the site will offer customer satisfaction scores on dentists, optometrists, physiotherapists, chiropractors, occupational therapists, acupuncturists dieticians, nutritionists, naturopaths, herbalists, homoeopathists, myotherapists and bowen therapists: a total of 200,000 providers. If the public embraces the site, NIB will probably extend it to cover medical practitioners (both general and specialists).

Empowering customers of health care providers is commonplace in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The real questions for Australians are first, why did it take NIB so long to get to this place and second, where are the other private health funds on this question?

If you need a dentist, podiatrist, physiotherapist, optometrist, chiropractor, occupational therapist or acupuncturist, do you know where to go to receive the best of care? And if your wallet doesn’t open up wide enough for the best of care, would you know who to see that’s regarded as not the best, but ‘very, very, good’?

NIB’s whitecoat.com.au will list service providers, their location relative to you, their treatment plans, prices, what to expect at an appointment, likely waiting times before an appointment is available and most importantly, customer feedback.

The public mostly finds out about allied health practitioners the same way it finds medical specialists. By asking a general practitioner, who may or may not genuinely know how good a colleague is relative to the latter’s peers.

This is not to disparage one’s general practitioner but merely to state the obvious. He or she will refer you to who he or she thinks is good. The NIB site will, in time, aggregate thousands of customer experiences, some good, some bad, some dreadful and some outstanding. Such a site will offer the public a more accurate guide as to which professional to visit. Of course it’s not infallible and I doubt NIB will claim it to be so. But it should prove unquestionably informative.

So how will whitecoat.com.au work? Not having seen it, intuitively I expect it to work as follows. Users of the site will be asked to choose a treatment from a drop down menu of health care professionals they wish to see, and noting that most folk don’t want to travel too far for treatment, say a maximum of 10 kilometres, they’ll be asked to key in the relevant postcode. That is either that of their home or office. And professionals in the area should appear on the screen.

In my case, I am in need of a new dentist as I am unhappy with my long-standing one. NIB’s job will be to help me find a very good dentist in my immediate vicinity.

After entering a postcode three types of dentists should appear: government funded, for which one must qualify (and wait and wait to be seen); health fund owned clinics; and private dental care providers.

Not only will dental practices appear in response to my online query, but also will a list of all the services offered performed. The list of services will differ between dentists based on the size of the practice, years of experience, market segments targeted and specialisations. Some for instance will have at their practice: cosmetic dentistry, hygiene, oral health assessment, specialist treatment such as periodontists and endodontists, oral surgeons, implant specialists, and orthodontist and a specialist in dental phobia and anxiety.  

When searching, ideally the web site will fine-tune what you want from a dentist, and will provide several suitable options to choose from, in your desired geographic area, his or her age, qualifications and graduation year.

After navigating the site you should be offered a list of local dentists: their menu of services, years in the job, prices, and consumer feedback. The dentists themselves might include a short biography of themselves as well. This will help you save time looking for a dentist, comparing dentists and saving you money.

As much as I hate visiting the dentist, I know that delaying treatment can end up costing more in the long run or allow my condition to worsen beyond repair. And that in the absence of NIB’s database, I would never move to another dentist as it’s too hard to establish who’s good and who’s lousy. At least for me. The sad fact is I have wanted to swap dentists for three years and I haven’t.

Part of the web site experience with NIB, I am sure, is that while the site aims to empower me, my interaction is vital. NIB would like me - and I think it only courteous – to return to the site after I receive treatment and leave a review of the dental surgery, the dentist, and dental hygienist who treated me.

After I return home, I’ll accurately determine if I am satisfied and comfortable with my new dentist. For example, did the dentist see me in a timely manner? Was the exam thorough? Did he or she address all of my concerns and follow up with any possible complications or questions I had? Was I over serviced? Was I for instance, unnecessarily x-rayed? Did the dentist leave the job, no matter how big or small, undone so as to have me return at a later date and clearly charge me again? Will I return? Will I recommend him or her to others?

As well as being able to write about my experience, I should state whether the bill was fully covered by my health fund and if not then how much was the out of pocket expenses and I will have to award the practice marks with one being the lowest and ten the highest. This will allow future website visitors to benefit from my experience.

Of course NIB’s whitecoat.com.au is not only for patients, but dentists and surgeries too. Whitecoat will surely want to help dentists generate new business. Regular media reports indicate that many Australians are foregoing oral care due to price or poor education. Surely easier access to the high standard of dentistry in the marketplace plus educative online articles on the benefits of better oral care should raise public confidence, battle dental phobia, inform price conscious consumers, and point out new dentists practicing close to a consumer’s home.

The purpose of Whitecoat is to empower consumers of health care services. Its objective is to inject transparency into the public’s decision-making process. By finding quality ratings, cost information and in-depth profiles of the nation's 200,000 ancillary health care providers, NIB will be providing the public with a service about the most relevant of goods on the market today: our health.

And not before time.