Delta Dental of Kansas - Company of the Year - Insurance

Company: Delta Dental of Kansas, Wichita, KS
Company Description: Delta Dental of Kansas is the largest, most experienced dental benefits company in Kansas. We are passionate about providing benefits that meet the needs of our customers and educating Kansans about the importance of good oral health.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Company of the Year - Insurance - Large

Nomination Title: Innovate and Engage

Delta Dental of Kansas’1(DDKS) mission is: Excellence. Service. Value. Making a difference for our constituents, communities and employees.

In 1972, DDKS was formed by an act of the Kansas legislature. The purpose was to provide a not-for-profit vehicle for providing professionally sponsored dental care programs to groups in Kansas. From those early years, Delta Dental of Kansas has grown to be the largest dental insurance carrier in the state. As a member of the Delta Dental Plans Association, a national network of dental service corporations, we share in the role of being the largest dental carrier in the country.

DDKS has over 900,000 enrollees and more than 3,000 group clients with a subscriber retention rate of 99.5%

Through recruiting efforts, 96% of Kansas dentists participate in the Delta Dental provider network, allowing our clients to have easy access to care.

Delta Dental of Kansas (DDKS) has four strategic pillars, in 2020, DDKS has achieved:

Operations and Innovation Excellence:

DDKS created a dedicated Innovation Lab to innovate with greater speed, efficiency and capabilities. The Innovation lab organized cross-departmental teams to successfully implement 23 employee-generated innovation ideas.2

During COVID-19, DDKS surpassed performance metrics, had the best Sales year since 2008 and achieved industry leading client retention.

Stakeholder Engagement:

DDKS’ CEO conducted a yearlong listening tour with hundreds of Delta Dental network dentists to listen and learn. From those conversations over 20 dentist generated innovation ideas were implemented including enhancements to the online dentist tools2, benefits enhancements and process improvements.

During COVID-19, DDKS provided $17 million in relief programs3to our network dentists, group clients and members.

Enterprise Modernization:

To stay innovative and competitive, DDKS prioritized the modernization of key operational processes including: a 10-month review of our current IT system capabilities for continued innovation, launch of a cloud-based phone system to improve user-experience, and launch of a formal Enterprise Risk Management program.

Community & Employee Engagement:

A Culture Committee4was formed to keep DDKS employees engaged and thriving in a work-from-home environment.

DDKS has a mission to improve the oral health of Kansans. In 2020, DDKS: provided dental insurance to families who would otherwise not be able to afford it through a partnership with United Way5, provided over 84,000 Smile Kits6and donated over $14.5 million to support oral health education/prevention programs throughout the state of Kansas.

Delta Dental of Kansas’ ability to adapt, innovate, and engage stakeholders sets DDKS apart from others in our industry and from our own past performance.

DDKS’ CEO, Dean Newton, began his new role in April, 2020. In his new role, he hit the ground running with new priorities and focused on shifting the company culture. Newton believes that employee input drives innovation and success. Through employee surveys and continuous feedback, DDKS’ four strategic pillars were created. As businesses closed and workloads decreased, DDKS surveyed staff to identify areas to improve service and create efficiencies. DDKS used those ideas to launch cross-functional Innovation Teams to re-purpose staff time/expertise and provide additional staff interaction. During 2020, nine Teams successfully implement 23 employee-generated innovation ideas.2

Delta Dental of Kansas’ engagement with Stakeholders surpasses others in the industry. From our CEO’s listening tour, to the COVID relief programs offered, and the creation of an internal culture committee - DDKS stays true to our mission to make a difference for constituents, communities and employees. To the best of our knowledge, DDKS is the only dental insurance company that offered a third and fourth round of COVID-19 relief programs to network dentist partners.

1– Attachment 1_DDKS Operational Statistics.pdf
2– Attachment 2_DDKS Innovation Samples.pdf: Samples of some of the projects the Innovation Teams completed.
3– Attachment 3_COVID-19 Relief Program Communication Samples: Samples of communication to DDKS constituents about provided COVID-19 relief.
4– Attachment 4_Culture Committee Initiative & Resource Communications Samples.pdf: Samples of the events, challenges and resource emails provided to all employees by the Culture Committee.
5– DDKS United Way Program Introduction Webpage for Members: https://deltadentalks.com/groups/united-way
6– DDKS Smile Kit Program Description & Application: https://deltadentalks.com/community/smile-kits
7-Delta Dental of Kansas website - homepage:https://deltadentalks.com/