Bridge the Gap: A thought experiment to align incentives and care approaches in the dental community
Teammates: Jose Flores, Giardino Marchena
In the current dentistry model, the financial pressures exerted on dentists, coupled with the subjective nature of the profession and lack of oversight, is a dangerous recipe for unnecessary procedures performed by dentists. This leads to unnecessary charges to insurance companies and patients. It is important to shift the balance of power from the providers to the patient.
User Personas
The Cautious Patient
This patient seeks to be well-informed about the dental treatment they require and the risk involved. They tend to be fearful of dental visits and distrustful of dentists. As a result, they find themselves seeking validation from multiple dentists for the dental procedures that are required or recommended for them.
The Proactive Dentist
This dentist tends to be risk averse and is inclined to over-diagnose. They will benefit from the opportunity to get a second opinion on diagnosis and treatment they give out. They are also looking for additional revenue streams outside of in-clinic procedures and opportunities to learn and expand their professional network.
Bridge The Gap is a theoretical online platform that creates a secure community to connect patients and dental professionals.
Using the platform starts with patients creating an account and uploading their dental x-rays. These x-rays are non-identifiable and are securely shared on the community platform for dental professionals registered on the platform to view. Dental professionals are then able to post their “opinions” on diagnosis including severity and risk, and recommended treatments based on the x-rays viewed.
Patients are able to review and compare the professional opinions posted. Patients increase their understanding of the dental care they require and gain a sense of autonomy in their own dental care approach.
Bridge The Gap provides a platform where diagnosis in dental care can be transparent and is inherently held accountable to peer review.
It encourages an evidence-based medicine approach and helps dental professionals ease their risk aversion by providing a space to verify a diagnosis with the opinions of multiple professionals.
This platform provides dental professionals with a tool to expand their network, share their dental care approach, and engage in professional development for training purposes.
Its hard to talk about the dental profession without talking about Reimbursement.
Dentists are incentivized to participate on this platform with the opportunity to be reimbursed for their activity on the platform. This reimbursement would be provided by insurers who absorb a significant cost attributed to the miss/over-diagnosis of dental care provided. Bridge The Gap stands to prevent the amount of unnecessary procedures and a percentage of costs saved from the use of the platform can be reallocated to reimburse (and incentivize) the dentists that participate on the platform.