Looking to find out more about Fluent? Learn specifics on our DentaQual measurement? Want to discover more about the DentaQual Leaders in Quality EliteStar® Awards?
General FAQs
Who is Fluent and why are They Recognizing DentaQual® elitestar® Dentists and Practices?
Fluent is the only dental source that combines comprehensive historical and current dental procedure data with technology, analytics, research and dental domain expertise to address the questions and business concerns of our customers and partners. Fluent’s 25+ years of trusted expertise gives us unique insight into how the oral healthcare ecosystem operates. We harness that experience and combine it with the power of our multi-payer dental claims database of commercially insured members, primary research and data management best practices to enable all stakeholders in the oral health industry to thrive. With our expertise in dental analytics and our large database of dental claims, Fluent is uniquely positioned as an objective third-party source to deliver data-driven, actionable insights to payers, employers, dentists and consumers.
What’s more, we believe that quality deserves to be recognized. That's why we created the DentaQual Leaders in Quality program and the DentaQual EliteStar Dentist and EliteStar Practice awards. The program recognizes the top performing dentists and practices in each state who have earned the top ranking in our DentaQual EliteStar Award measurement platform.
These awards empower practices with tools for growth and add a new perspective to questionably sourced testimonials and online reviews.
Why is
Fluent scoring individual dentists and PRACTICES?
Fluent is responding to the increasing demand from employers, consumers and government programs for objective, quality scoring for individual dentists and the practices they work in. Deploying sophisticated data analytics to meet developing transparency needs and leveraging informatics to encourage improved quality, consumer engagement and program integrity is a core focus of government and commercial dental benefit programs. The methodology in the DentaQual EliteStar Award platform is very similar to quality scoring methodologies that have been used by medical health plans and hospitals for years.
How are the DentaQual® EliteStar® awardees determined?
Fluent awards DentaQual EliteStar Dentist or EliteStar Practice status to those in each state with the highest DentaQual EliteStar Award scores and no evidence of sanctions or other inappropriate behavior as of the date of the award. The DentaQual metrics used in award rankings are described in the DentaQual White Paper which is available upon request. The DentaQual Leaders in Quality EliteStar Dentist Awards program provides objective information to support evaluation of dental providers and practices. Fluent does not recommend or endorse any individual dental provider or practice. Information used to determine DentaQual EliteStar Awards is obtained from dental insurance claims data submitted by dentists to multiple commercial dental benefits payers. The DentaQual EliteStar Awards are not intended to be a guarantee of any dental provider’s quality or as a substitute for professional dental advice.
Fluent plans to perform an analysis each year to determine the annual DentaQual EliteStar Dentist and EliteStar Practice awardees. Awardees will typically be announced during the first quarter of each calendar year. However, the 2018 awardees were determined and announced in September 2018 and the 2019 DentaQual EliteStar Dentist awardees were determined and announced in the fall of 2019.
When are the DentaQual® EliteStar® Awards determined?
Annual awardees of the DentaQual Leaders in Quality EliteStar Awards program are listed on the EliteStar Dentist Awardees page and EliteStar Practice Awardees page of this website.
Where is Fluent publishing the list of
DentaQual®
EliteStar®
awardees?
No, the DentaQual Leaders in Quality EliteStar Award program is an objective measurement platform that ranks dentists and practies across dozens of metrics across several clinical and behavioral categories and is based on “standard deviations from the norm.” We believe this claims-based, “normative” statistical approach provides objective ranking information that is superior to highly subjective patient testimonials and protects individual dentists and their practices against the uncertainty and subjectivity of patient reviews. Patient satisfaction surveys and testimonials may provide additional information that is important to specific patients but they are not included in the DentaQual EliteStar Award measurement platform at this time.
Does the DentaQual® Leaders in Quality® EliteStar® Award program take into account patient reviews?
DentaQual is based on a statistical analysis of dental claims data and identifies dentists who are within and without the statistically normative behavior patterns of their peer dentists. DentaQual is not based on pre-determined, subjective benchmarks of quality. All scoring is based on “standard deviation from the norm,” with the assumption that “the norm” represents the average level of quality in the dental community. The DentaQual methodology and the metrics used in the DentaQual EliteStar Award rankings are described in the DentaQual White Paper which is available upon request.
How does DentaQual® work?
Claims data have long been an accepted measurement source in commercial and government medical benefits programs and have been widely used in quality scoring in the medical space for years. The DentaQual assessment is limited to uniform defined measures for which comparable data is available for providers and practices and that is available in claims data. The DentaQual performance measurements are designed to function effectively with claims data. The DentaQual methodology and the metrics used in DentaQual EliteStar Award rankings are described in the DentaQual White Paper which is available upon request.
Are claims data A Reliable/ Justifiable way to rank dentists or PRacTices?
The claims data analyzed to produce DentaQual EliteStar Award scores come from DentaBase, Fluent’s multi-payer dental claims database with over 70 dental payers contributing monthly data updates. DentaBase currently contains over 5 Billion dental procedures and includes dentists from every state in the U.S., providing a statistically valid data set on over 200,000 U.S. dentists.
Where does Fluent get the claims data?
DentaQual separately scores dentists in commercial and government programs (Medicaid/Medicare). Data from these two types of populations are not comingled to determine DentaQual scores. The DentaQual EliteStar Awards are based only on commercial claims data and do not include any government program claims data.
Does DentaQual® include any Government Program (MEDICAID/ MEDICARE) Claims Data?
Fluent’s DentaBase is updated monthly.
How current is your claims data?
DentaQual® EliteStar® Awardee FAQs
Included in your award package is an attractive DentaQual EliteStar Award certificate suitable for framing and display in your office. The DentaQual EliteStar Dentist and EliteStar Practice award can be a powerful marketing tool for your practice. Patients are always searching for the highest quality dental care; by displaying your award certificate, you can show that a respected, objective third-party in dental measurement has recognized you for your commitment to providing the highest level of quality dental care in the country. Awardees may also request additional free DentaQual EliteStar Award practice marketing tools and ideas, including a digital badge for use on a website, emails or on social media channels.
How can I promote my DentaQual® EliteStar® Award status?
Unless you elect to opt-out of the DentaQual Leaders in Quality EliteStar Award program, your award status will continue to be listed at www.DentaQualLeadersInQuality.com under the year of the award.
How long will my DentaQual® EliteStar® Award Rating last?
Annual awardees of the DentaQual Leaders in Quality EliteStar Award program are listed on the EliteStar Dentist Awardees page and EliteStar Practice Awardees page at www.DentaQualLeadersInQuality.com.
Where is
Fluent publishing the list of DentaQual® EliteStar®
Awards?
Yes, if you would like to opt out of the program, please contact us at: 609.783.9004 and we will remove your name from the DentaQual Leaders in Quality website.