Journal Feature Story Two

MDA Insurance is a specialized insurance agency tailored specifically to you and your team. It provides a wide array of plans — from professional liability to health, life, and disability, and personal lines like auto and home. MDA Services, on the other hand, offers vetted programs and services, all endorsed by the MDA itself and designed to save you money and time searching for quality, trusted vendors. Your MDA membership unlocks access to these specialized insurance and services programs, as well as exclusive savings from each MDA-endorsed vendor, plus group savings and enhancements to insurance products. These savings help you offset dues and reduce practice overhead — making membership financially advantageous. In addition to the benefits these programs give you, they also benefit the association as a whole. When MDA members utilize endorsed vendors via MDA Services, the association receives royalties that fund broader initiatives benefiting the field of dentistry — such as continuing education, advocacy, and professional development efforts.

What MDA insurance offers

Think of MDA Insurance as your dentist-run insurance agency, with a staff dedicated to one goal: serving you. Here’s what MDA Insurance offers:

MDA Health Plan. The MDA Health Plan is a self-insured group health plan administered by Priority Health. Exclusively available to dental practices — members, families, and staff — it includes a wide selection of plan designs, including HSA qualified, PPO, Family Focus, and Living Fit models with fertility, gym, and hearing benefits built in. Multiple plans (up to three) can be offered to staff, and new groups can join at any time.

The MDA Health Plan’s combination of defined benefits — such as vision care via VSP, fertility benefits, wellness perks, and flexible plan designs — are rare in small group coverage, especially when tied into top-rated networks via Priority Health.

Life and disability plans. MDA Insurance offers both group and individual life and disability insurance, including business overhead coverage, long-term care, and disability for students and staff. These insurance plans help safeguard both your personal and professional future.

Medicare help. MDA Insurance’s Medicare Advisory Service is a free one-on-one resource for members, their spouses, or employees who are researching, aging into, or are eligible for Medicare. At this time of transition, most people desperately need someone to help them sift through and understand the differences, complexities, and restrictions surrounding Medicare and their health coverage options. MDA Insurance can help analyze specific situations to help decide when and how to transition into Medicare parts A and/or B, and objectively present a variety of options to maximize coverage and minimize your out-of-pocket costs.

Auto, home, and umbrella insurance. Your membership unlocks discounted rates for auto and homeowners’ insurance through established Michigan carriers. Plans extend from standard personal policies to RVs, antique cars, boaters’ insurance, snowmobiles, and umbrella liability policies (from $1 million to $5 million).

Professional liability insurance. The Dentists Choice professional liability program is offered exclusively through MDA Insurance. The program features occurrence or claims made policies, HIPAA defense, licensure protection, staff liability, and risk management training (with a 10% premium discount and CE credits). All carriers partnered with MDA Insurance are A-rated.

In addition, MDA Insurance offers workers’ compensation coverage, data breach and cyber liability coverage, and practice property and building insurance, all designed to protect your practice from unexpected losses or claims.

For the full listing of what MDA Insurance and MDA Services offers, see the chart above.

What members are saying

Here’s what some of our members have to say about their experiences with MDA Insurance:

• “I use MDA Insurance for car insurance, home insurance, umbrella insurance, we have a malpractice policy, and all of those are administered through MDA Insurance. It’s super, super nice to have a point person who is extremely responsive, knows what I and other dentists go through, and that I know is really looking out for me. Not only for the best insurance policies that exist out there, but also just in general with the things that I go through as a dentist and a young professional in day-to-day life.”
— Dr. Riley Schaff, Ann Arbor

• “Three years ago, my wife was air-lifted off a trail. When I got that phone call, I didn’t have time to check in with MDA Insurance. But one thing I never had to question was that the next day, if something were to come up, it would be taken care of. Along the way when we made the phone call to MDA Insurance the team said., “Don’t worry, we have your back.” And that’s the way it’s been. It really puts your mind at ease when you don’t have to worry.”
—Dr. Todd Christy, Berrien Springs

What MDA Services offers

MDA Services orchestrates a broad suite of endorsed vendors and programs aimed at operational efficiency, compliance, personnel, and profitability — all negotiated for MDA members.
These include financial solutions such as:

• CPA, investment advising services, and pre-tax benefit solutions.
• Equipment and practice loans and student loan refinancing.
• Credit card processing, patient financing, and debt collection.
• Insurance fee negotiation, participation optimization, and credentialing.
• Embezzlement protection and investigation services.

Staffing solutions from MDA Services include dental virtual assistants and temporary in-house staffing.

MDA Services can help you with regulatory compliance, including:

• Dental gas services.
• HIPAA, OSHA, and OIG compliance.
• Interpretation and translation services.
• ePrescribing and HIPAA-compliant email.

Tech hardware, IT, and software solutions include:

• Computers and hardware.
• Technology implementation and managed IT services.
• Website design and digital marketing.
• Cloud backup and Practice Management Software.
• Software for dental billing and claims, insurance verification, medical coding, and practice analytics.

Other MDA Services include real estate assistance, including purchasing, selling, leasing, start-ups, new construction, lease renewals, and expansions. MDA Services also offers discounts on dental and office supplies and metal refining, travel discounts, and even serenity imagery on TV for dental offices.

It’s a long list of benefits for you as an MDA member!

Best value for you

All told, the programs offered by MDA Insurance and MDA Services really do add tremendous value to your membership, and in this economy, that’s critically important. Of course, depending on your practice situation you may not need to take advantage of every MDA-endorsed program, but odds are that you’ll find many of them well worthwhile.

So, take a look at what’s offered. Get more information as needed by visiting mdaprograms.com or by calling MDA Insurance and MDA Services staff. The big takeaway: These programs were created to help you, the MDA member. Taken together, this is a value you can’t get anywhere else, so be sure to take advantage of these excellent, exclusive MDA member benefits.