The Blues sells DenteMax
Elizabeth Slowik

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan announced Wednesday that the sale of its dental network leasing subsidiary to an Illinois company will expand the number of dentists available to its customers nationwide.

The sale of Southfield-based DenteMax to Dental Network of America sets the stage for BCBSM to renew a commitment to marry dental and health coverage to improve overall health, Vice President for Corporate Marketing and Products Kathryn Levine said.

Terms were not disclosed.

DNOA is a subsidiary of Health Care Service Corp., which is based in suburban Chicago and operates Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

BCBSM pays DenteMax to lease the network for its Blue Dental insurance products, and will continue to do so with the sale, Vice President for Finance Paul Mozak said. While DenteMax will retain its name and remain in Southfield, some of its 84 employees will become DNOA employees and others will be transferred to BCBSM.

DenteMax leases its PPO network to “hundreds of insurance companies, third-party administrators and self-funded groups for use in their dental benefit plans,” according to a BCBSM press release. Through those leases, dentists in the DenteMax network provide services for 5 million people nationwide.

DenteMax network members serve 1.3 million people in Michigan covered by BCBSM dental plans, BCBSM spokeswoman Helen Stojic said. Levine said the network in Michigan is “robust.”

With the sale, the DenteMax network is expected to grow from 91,000 “dental access points,” which are locations that may have more than one dentist, to 133,000 across the country.

Levine said that breadth is expected to be attractive to Michigan-based companies which have employees and retirees in other states.

Stojic said BCBSM expects to see savings by spreading the cost of leasing the DenteMax network across the greater number of dental access points in the DNOA network as well as the additional customers the nonprofit expects to attract. The executives did not pinpoint the amount they expect the company to save.