Dental predeterminations – update

Effective March 1, 2013, Great-West Life is changing its process for communicating the results of dental predeterminations (estimates). Dental predeterminations are a free service Great-West provides you as a member of a Great-West group benefits plan.

Predeterminations are particularly useful for more costly procedures such as bridges, crowns, dentures or wisdom tooth extractions. You can ask your dental care provider to submit a predetermination to Great-West before undergoing any prescribed major treatment. The predetermination lets you know up front the amount your plan will pay, and the difference in cost that you will have to pay out of pocket. This information can help you and your dental care provider make informed decisions about your dental care, including considering alternative, lower-cost treatment options while still meeting your dental care needs.

What’s changing?

Currently, when a dental care provider submits a dental predetermination on your behalf, Great-West communicates the results via an Explanation of Benefits (EOB), and issues two copies, one to the dental care provider and one to you. If you’re registered for Great-West’s GroupNet for Plan Members online service and signed up for eDetails email notification, an email is sent to you to advise the results of the predetermination can be viewed on GroupNet.

Beginning March 1, 2013, Great-West will provide the predetermination EOB to you only. You may then contact your dental care provider to determine the next steps for treatment. By making this change, we will reduce our environmental impact by producing half the number of paper predetermination EOBs without compromising our communication with you.
Great-West has made dental care providers aware of this change.

More information

If you have questions about dental predeterminations, contact your benefits administrator or call a Great-West client service representative at 1–800-957-9777.