Expediting Prior Approval and Containing Third‐Party Costs for Dental Carea

Abstract

Dental insurance carriers frequently require referral of radiographs for determination of prior approval. Radiographs are also often used for obtaining expert opinions before finalizing diagnoses and establishing treatment plans. Traditionally, such referrals have been carried out using the original or duplicate films transmitted through the postal system. Studies concerning alternative communication media for data transmission are presented, namely, the use of switched-digital telephone lines and of electronic mail networks.

Electronic‐mail: a new tool for data collection in dental public health

“…One ofthe most important contributions of E-mail in research has been to make possible electronic access to library services from researchers' personal computers (4)(5)(6)(7). E-mail has also been used to exchange data (8), to transfer computer programs (9) and to send image files such as dental radiographs (10). Data and image file transmission allows quick second opinion from experts based everywhere before finalizing diagnoses and establishing treatment plans.…”