Dental HMO surpasses one million-member milestone; PMI Dental Health Plan caps four years of rapid growth with Kaiser contract.CERRITOS, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--March 21, 1997--PMI Dental Health Plan, the HMO HMO health maintenance organization. HMO n. A corporation that is financed by insurance premiums and has member physicians and professional staff who provide curative and preventive medicine within certain financial, affiliate of Delta Dental Plan Delta Dental Plan, n.pr an active member organization of the Delta Dental Plans Association (a not-for-profit organization), formed and guided by state dental societies to provide prepaid dental care to the public on a group basis. of California, announced today that this month the plan gained its 1 millionth member. The one million-member milestone -- making PMI See Private Mortgage Insurance. one of the two largest dental HMOs in California, and also one of the nation's largest -- was crossed on March 1 when a recently announced alliance with Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care organization, based in Oakland, California, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney R. Garfield. , Northern California Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern region, became effective. Kaiser added 120,000 of its Medicare program enrollees (SeniorAdvantage) to PMI's membership, giving PMI an estimated 1.1 million members. The figure represents a 20 percent increase over PMI membership at the same time last year, and includes the recent addition of several corporate and small group clients along with the new Kaiser business. PMI's growth is unique from that of its competitors' in that virtually all membership gains throughout its corporate history have been built on new sales and expansion, rather than acquisitions or mergers. Tom Sher, a healthcare consultant specializing in dental benefits, noted PMI was acquired by Delta Dental Plan of California in 1985, "in a move that gave Delta the ability to offer a full line of managed fee-for-service, PPO PPO abbr. preferred provider organization PPO Managed care Preferred provider organization, see there Infectious disease Pleuropneumonia-like organism, see there and HMO-type dental programs." Delta, said Sher, didn't have any HMO membership at the time, "but it gave PMI the credibility and support of a financially strong, quality-driven parent company just when managed dental care was gaining wide and rapid acceptance by many employer groups." PMI's enrollment has almost doubled over the last four years -- a period during which national dental HMO membership posted average increases of nearly 20 percent annually, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the National Association of Prepaid Dental Plans prepaid dental plan, n a method of financing the cost of dental care for a defined population in advance of receipt of services. . Yet despite the industrywide growth, PMI consistently posted gains exceeding the industry average, in part by successfully recruiting and retaining California's largest network of pariticipating dentists -- a panel that today includes some 2,700 dental offices statewide. PMI was licensed as a nonprofit Knox-Keene plan in 1968 by the California State Department of Corporations. Its early years produced steady growth in southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , considered the spawning grounds of the dental HMO plan design. Southern California remains the area of the country with the greatest concentration of dental HMO membership, as well as dental HMO competition. Today, approximately 85 percent of PMI's membership resides in California, but the company has also developed significant business in Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Utah and Texas. PMI markets a small and large group dental benefit program called "DeltaCare," along with an a DeltaCare plan for individuals and a pre-paid vision plan called "DeltaVision." This year, PMI will exceed $100 million in gross revenues, up from $90 million in 1996. Parent company Delta Dental Plan of California, based in San Francisco, posted $2.1 billion in gross revenues last year, with a total membership in California and throughout the nation of 11.6 million members. CONTACT: Delta Dental Plan of California Jeff Album, 415/972-8418 jalbum@delta.org |
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