Roberson Free Essays

Tracy Morgan Intro- Public Administration (PA301) Instructor Travis Forbes Sept, 12 2011 There were a few elements I noticed, and reflected upon while reading William Robertson: Exemplar of Politics and Public Management Rightly Understood, that I felt he drew upon, to help him successfully run the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Services. Roberson utilized; people, place, physical technology, and personality, which were the specific elements that Gaus had mentioned. Let’s discuss how each event in Mr. We will write a custom essay sample on Roberson or any similar topic only for you Order Now Robertson’s life was important in reaching his goal, amongst the short term goals that were achieved because of his ability to lead. While reading Mr. Robertson’s story you could already grasp that he was a strong, yet influential leader, who believed through his military training, that you should lead from the front. Therefore be on the same level as your subordinates, so you can understand their needs, in order to meet and exceed them, for maximum mission effectiveness could be achieved with few discrepancies. He also furthered his knowledge, not for the sake of promotion, but to have a better perspective of what was going to be needed in the future, to perform better in his job on all levels. So in case a situation arose, he would not be thrown off guard, but have the ability to correctly assess, identify, implement, and evaluate the situation, on behalf of the public, and city. Being in a large city, such as Los Angeles, afforded Mr. Robertson the prime opportunity to shine, because he was always surrounded by all the elements, which included him walking into public council meetings that were normally full of disgruntled people, but with his ability to converse (or manipulate as some would say), thus leaving many of them thanking him. It could even be coined as a slight form of social technology. He was able to accomplish all this by informing and educating, the people, and council of his duties, so when barriers were put in place, he and his team could work together on empowering the public to make better decisions, or be better prepared for the political battles that would surely arise, for the need for funding was on the table. Roberson’s judgment alone ancelled out Arnstein’s ladder of participation by, inadvertently giving more power to the people with knowledge, and abilities. And as a result the council members showed a little more insight, and support to Robertson, than what they did to his counterparts, thus leading to him to develop physical technologies in paving neighborhoods with limited funding, and still not overcrowding the streets with workers. How to cite Roberson, Essay examples

Auditing and Accountability-Samples for Students-Myassignment

Questions: 1.Explain how your results Influence your Planning Decisions for the audit for the year ending 30 June 2015. 2.Explain why it is a risk and how it may affect the risk of Material Misstatement in the Financial Report. 3.Identify and Explain two key Fraud Risk Factors relating to Misstatements arising from Fraudulent Financial reporting to which DIPL may be Susceptible. Answers: 1.The term analytical procedures can be defined as the process undertaken by the auditor on the transactions and items in the financial statements so that he can conclude about the true and fairness of the transactions by the organization. These activities are performed in order to assess the areas which are needed to be taken concern more. These procedures provide us the result about the errors or miss statement conducted by the personal recording the transactions and preparing financial statements of the company. For concluding the fairness of the transactions, the auditor needs to conduct both statistical, mathematical all physical verification of the items so that he gets to know about the strength of the internal control system of the organization (Christensen, et. al., 2012). These analytical procedures are the ship between the financial and on financial data of the organization. Conducting this activity he is able to judge the genuine nature of the transactions and the actual transactions recorded. These procedures may include a comparison between different elements of the transactions within the organization or outside the organization. The auditor can compare the transactions with other organizations and the amount paid for the same in comparison with other. In the present case, the firm is a printing organization conducting its activities all over the world. It is necessary for the auditor to check whether the transactions undertaken by the organization is true and as for the policy is formulated by the firm. There are various items which are needed to be taken under the analytical procedures of the auditor. The major item which is to be checked by conducting this activity is cash held with the firm. This can be checked by confirming the cash amount with the cashier with the actual cash balance shown in the cash flow statement and cash statement. This will help ascertained by the auditor that the cash is being handled by the organization in a legible manner improper records are being kept. The other important item which is to be checked by the auditor applying this procedure is stock held by the firm. The stock can be checked by the auditor by physical verification at the place where the stock is kept. Also, the altar can check the recording of the stock entered in the warehouse and the documentation is prepared by the firm. Also, the documents which are being prepared for the stock which is used for production should be checked. He should compare the actual usage of the stock with the re sult obtained by conducting a test for the true and fair view of the transactions. The organization is taking online orders through eBook method. Through this method, the orders are been placed through online mode by the customers and the organization delivers the produced goods to them. The auditor should check that the online orders are not fake and the deliveries are made to the genuine people who have made the orders. If the orders are not genuine it will affect the revenue of the firm and that is to be checked by the auditor in a detailed manner to check for any fraudulent activity. Apart from this auditor should also apply analytical procedures on the payment made to employees for the leave encashment. This payment is made to the Employees who have traveled abroad and have made certain payments for the organization. The firm should pay the amount which is actually paid by the employee. If the firm is paying fixed amount to the Employees then the auditor need not check in depth but if the firm is paying to the Employees on the receipt received from them then the auditor should check whether receipts are genuine and I totally paid by the employees for the sake of the organization (Jans, et. al., 2014). These are some of the items on which the auditor can apply the analytical procedures in order to get the result about the true and fairness of the transactions undertaken. If the auditor upon conducting the activity get the knowledge that the results are in favor of the firm then he can conclude that the internal control system of the organization is strong but if the results obtained are not in the favor of the firm then the auditor need to check these items in depth as it affects the internal control system. More the deviation in the results obtained with the transactions of the firm more detail procedures is to be applied by the auditor to form an opinion on the true and fair view of the financial statement. Whole planning of the auditor is dependent upon the results obtained from the analytical procedures applied. The areas which are less prone to be checked by the auditor are more prone to errors and misstatement or fraud by the organization. It is the duty of the auditor to check the transactions and apply the analytical procedures in such a manner which are effective and essential for performing audit procedures and providing opinion on the financial statement. After the analytical procedures are applied and the results are obtained then the auditor is in a position to plan its Assurance procedure. He gets the path on which he had to apply audit process while conducting an audit of the firm. He can perform the sketch of the activities and the death of which he had to perform its activities. The areas which he needs to discuss with the person those charged with governance can also be analyzed by applying these procedures (Messier Jr, 2010). From the about discussion we can say that analytical procedures conducted in a substantial manner by the auditor will help the order in the long run as this will become the path, evidence, documents for the future reference. This will guide him in preparing a report and giving an opinion on the true and fair view of financial statement (Brown-Liburd, et. al., 2015). Without knowing the areas which are prone to fraudulent activity auditor cannot provide opinion on the true and fair view of the financial statement. Show the report of the auditor and the opinion of the auditor is fully dependent upon the results obtained through the application of analytical procedures. 2.The inherent risk is the probability that an omission and misstatement exist in the financial statement due to an uncontrollable factor which is difficult to identify during the audit. The financial auditor often incurs the inherent risk at the time of dealing with the complex transaction which requires a high degree of attention made in the financial estimate. To check the inherent risk the auditor should ensure that the client has internal control in place to mitigate the inherent risk. For identifying the inherent risk auditor should have check that the inventory is not quickly becoming obsolete or the patent of the company getting expired. The auditor also needs to exercise the check over the misstatement in the prior period misstatement and identify the area where there is the huge probability of the theft or fraud. The two types of inherent risk which could have occurred at DIPL are Acquisition of Nuclear publishing limited (NPL) The Auditor may have a little or huge focus over the acquisition of the NPL during the year 2014 which may lead to inherent risk. The main reason for the acquisition of the company was because the company was specialized in the medical textbook and each of the textbooks of the company was having huge profit margin all across the globe (Humphrey Samsonova, 2014). The auditor should not ignore that the article published in the year 2015 about the new theory that leads to medical textbook being obsolete. If the new theory will be valid that it will cause huge loss to the company. The auditor failing to report the risk will create a huge impact on the profitability of the company. For avoiding the risk the auditor needs to have a regular check over the major transaction made by the company in the recent and the change in the external situation in related to the same. Also, the auditor should check the other non-routine transaction which could have a huge impact on the profitability of t he company. Allowance for obsolesce of the inventory The Auditor should have checked over the area where lots if the estimate is made by the management because there are huge chances of inherent risk in the area (Knechel Salterio, 2016). The company needs to disclose in the accounting system about the process adopted for the fair valuation. The auditor must review the estimation technique made by the management to reduce the possibility of the error and can be magnified if occur rarely or the first time. Also, the auditor needs to have checked over the employee with the varying level of authority, for instance, the account receivable clerk Gay Chan is having an understanding of the entity system and the internal control or is observing inventory and performing cutoff procedure may create an inherent risk to the organization. The DIPL can have the inherent risk with the valuation of the raw material which was valued at average cost and the allowance of the inventory to cover the decline in the value of the storage hazard (Andon, et. al., 2015). The organization policy of valuation of the inventory may lead to inherent risk as if they are not recorded at the appropriate cost will lead to loss of value of the stock. Also if the company has not kept enough allowance to cover the loss of hazard of storage than it will affect organization operation in the future. 3.The auditor of the DIPL in order to avoid fraud needs to identify the area of the business where there is a huge possibility of fraud and conduct the detail examination over the same. Also, the Auditor should obtain the appropriate evidence to reduce the audit risk and to maintain proper track over the business transaction. The DIPL has a huge probability of the fraud and to avoid the same the company needs to create the strong internal control system where no single person has complete control over the transaction. The effectiveness of the internal control system also reduces the probability of the occurrence of the fraud as the work of each and every employee is examined by the other (Nicoll, 2016). The auditor needs to examine the internal control system adopted by the DIPL to promote adequate reporting of each and every transaction. The DIPL is engaged in the activity of printing books, a magazine for the publisher on the demand basis. The organization should have a proper track over the way inventory is recorded as the company is acquiring the resources from two different countries and have a different cost. Also, the company needs to check the employee who is part of the process through which the goods are delivered to client and payment is received from them (Nicoll, 2016). The fraud can occur in DIPL at the time of receiving the order through the off system. There is the huge probability of misstatement in the cash receipt as some of the payment is received through mails and the cashier records the transaction in the inward remittance registered and forward the advice to Gay Chan for posting the same in the accounts receivable ledger. The process may lead to loss of the transaction as some of the time Judy Bones fails to report the transaction which is hard to track as she has the sole control of the receipt of the payment by cheque. The organization has changed the system through which transaction is recorded so the auditor needs to ensure that the new system doesnt provide the undue benefit to the person handling the system (Arens, et. al., 2007). The management on the regular basis should identify the shortfall in the system and make the effort to overcome the same to reduce the chances of fraud. Also, the higher authority needs to review the system and check that no single person has been provided complete control over the transaction also they are in contact with the person who is checking their transaction. These risks may create huge impact over the working of the organization. The auditor needs to classify the risk to emphasize more on the risk which may have a huge impact on working or existence of the company. In the case of high risk, the Auditor needs to conduct the detail examination of the transaction in the financial statement and should obtain sufficient evidence over the same. The Auditor in the case of receipt of payment through cheque needs to check the evidence of each of transaction and whether any of the transaction is omitted to detect the fraud in the area. The auditor can frame qualified report if management doesnt provide enough evidence during the audit to assist the opinion framed over the true and fair position of the financial statement of the entity. If the Auditor has obtained sufficient evidence over the transaction than he can frame an unqualified opinion over the financial statement of the company. Also, there are chances of error at the time of recording the inventory as the company is obtaining the raw material from the different sources and is adopting different channel to dispatch the goods which create the possibility of the fraud (Arens, et. al., 2007). So the auditor needs to conduct the detail examination in the area and obtain sufficient evidence over the same. So the management of the company needs to assist the auditor at the time of conducting the audit so that he can effectively report the true and fair value of the financial statement of the entity. The auditor frame the clean report is he is satisfied with the authenticity of the financial statement of the DIPL. References Andon, P., Free, C., O'Dwyer, B. (2015). Annexing new audit spaces: challenges and adaptations. Accounting, Auditing Accountability Journal, 28(8), 1400-1430. Arens, A. A., Best, P., Shailer, G., Fiedler, B., Elder, R. J., Beasley, M. (2007). Auditing and assurance services in Australia: an integrated approach. Pearson Education Australia. Brown-Liburd, H., Issa, H., Lombardi, D. (2015). Behavioral implications of Big Data's impact on audit judgment and decision making and future research directions.Accounting Horizons,29(2), 451-468. Christensen, B. E., Glover, S. M., Wood, D. A. (2012). Extreme estimation uncertainty in fair value estimates: Implications for audit assurance. Auditing: A Journal of Practice Theory, 31(1), 127-146. Humphrey, C., Samsonova, A. (2014). A crisis of identity? Juxtaposing auditor liability and the value of audit. In Accounting and Regulation (pp. 111-131). Springer New York. Jans, M., Alles, M. G., Vasarhelyi, M. A. (2014). A field study on the use of process mining of event logs as an analytical procedure in auditing. The Accounting Review, 89(5), 1751-1773. Knechel, W. R., Salterio, S. E. (2016). Auditing: Assurance and risk. Taylor Francis. Messier Jr, W. F. (2010). Opportunities for Task?Level Research within the Audit Process. International Journal of Auditing, 14(3), 320-328. Nicoll, P. (2016). Audit in a democracy: the Australian model of public sector audit and its application to emerging markets. Routledge.

Shoes free essay sample

I’m exceptionally good at focusing on insignificant things in life, like the shoes I wear. I have that pair of shoes I had to buy for Winter Ball freshman year, with the one-inch heel, because I absolutely could not be taller than my date. I have four-year-old cheerleading sneakers that have been through endless practices and four state championship games with me. I have a pair of heels that make me six feet tall and I feel like I’m on top of the world when I have them on. I have a pair of white Converse that Alison spilled a blue slushy all over, but I couldn’t be mad because her and her boyfriend just broke up the day before. I have flip-flops that have walked the sands of many beaches, but my point is, is that every pair of shoes I own hold their own memories to me, and the list of things I’ve done while wearing certain pairs of shoes is endless. We will write a custom essay sample on Shoes or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page There is one pair of shoes that are extremely important to me and they are my moccasins. I’m not even sure why I’m so obsessed with them, they are plain old gray moccasins that I bought for no particular reason in the Nordstrom’s shoe department at the Providence Place Mall. As I bought them I just figured they’d be a pair of shoes I was going to wear to school occasionally, not knowing that I would wear them every single day to school for almost 2 straight years. I have many pairs of shoes, I’d say too many but the limit for how many shoes I own is non-existent, but for some reason I always pick these moccasins to wear to school. Recently I was let down by my foot doctor that I should wear shoes that lace up for the next month because of a bump on my toe, but I’m fearless so that wont stop me from wearing my moccasins because I never think twice about wearing them, even with my newfound instructions from my foot doctor. I have an attachment to a pair of shoes is what I’ve realized. It’s not that these are the only shoes I ever wear its just that these shoes hold some of my favorite memories. I think it’s important to focus on the small details in life because everything can go by like a whirlwind, I take things to the extreme and remember right down to the underwear I have on when something important happens to me. But a way of keeping memories in my life alive is to remember the shoes, or underwear, that I’m wearing when I do something. Every time I put on a pair of shoes I remember the last thing I did in them, who I was with or where I was going. I like that I’m capable of remembering things in my life just by putting on a pair of shoes, its almost like going through a photo album, and having all the â€Å"remember when† moments. Things in life tend to go by fast, sometimes we experience no changes at all in our lives or way too many. I’m not a person that likes change. Certain things change very easily in our lives like relationships, maybe our grades, or even our surroundings. Since I don’t like changes at all I tend to hold onto things that are concrete and I know they cannot change. People can leave your life when they want to, shoes cannot, and neither can the memories we have made with these people while wearing certain shoes. My moccasins have done so many things with me, especially within the halls of my school. Junior year is when they started here. They didn’t get to experience awkward or overly dramatic moments freshman year or dull, boring moments sophomore year but they have been through two years of high school, and sometimes I think that may just be enough. My moccasins have maybe attended more than 10 liturgies in the auditorium, two Christmas concerts, one cabaret, over 200 school lunches, and have easily sat through over 700 classes with me. Next year when they enter an unknown classroom instead of one here it’s going to be tough. It wont be with the teachers I’m so comfortable with, or in the chairs I’ve sat in for four years. It will all be new, but I have something that will always remind me where I came from. I’ve learned some of the most valuable lessons I will ever learn in life while wearing my moccasins. These lessons will travel to college with me and I will never forget the values instilled in them. Sometimes I find it hard to appreciate the education I’ve been given because of all the stress it puts on me, as much as I say I cant wait to leave my old school I know that once I’m gone I’ll be holding onto any memory I can of it. Walking out of the cathedral will be hard because it signifies the end of my high school career. I wont have on my moccasins while I graduate because I never want to end their high school career. I want to hold my memories of my old school with me forever and I will do that through my moccasins. I am already on the search for white shoes for graduation, another pair of shoes that will hold more memories. They will go through class day with me, our pinning ceremony, and graduation and every time I see my white shoes I will remember my ending at this school. I’m happy that I’ll be able to say I don’t just have shoes that remind me of leaving but, I have my moccasins that remind me of my typical days at school, the days I want to remember the most. The other day I saw a photo that said, â€Å"Shoes make me happy. I’m superficial. Whatever.† I laughed because shoes do make me happy but in the least superficial way possible, and this picture reminded me of why I always look deeper into things. Now I challenge you to try to remember a few memories you’ve made in the shoes you’re wearing right now, the shoes might end up meaning more to you than you think. I’m sure some of the memories do make you happy, and not in a superficial way, in a way that people would never realize why shoes could make a person so happy.

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An Overview of Delta Dental Insurance Essay Example for Free

An Overview of Delta Dental Insurance Essay This paper provides an overview of Delta Dental – one of the most successful health care companies in the United States. As good oral health becomes more essential of Americans’ healthy lifestyle, Delta Dental insurance plans help more than 59.5 million people to be covered on their plans. By describing the outline of Delta Dental’s history and current structure, this article focuses on how Delta Dental insurance has grown and improved access and overall health status. Also, this paper explores strengths and weaknesses (especially with healthcare delivery point of view) as well as makes comparison with other dental insurances companies to reveal that why Delta Dental is better and more successful than others. Finally, the future plans of Delta Dental about how to improve oral care delivery of services to clients and enrollees, as well as how it fared compare to its peer insurance companies are initialed at the end of the paper. Keywords: dental benefits programs, strengths and weaknesses, multiple types, expanding, effective benefits Many people in the world may have best access to oral health care, yet millions are unable to get basic dental care. Poor oral hygiene has significant impact on overall personal health. Researches show that poor oral hygiene increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease and poor birth outcome. That’s why nobody can deny the importance of oral health care. According to many statistics insurance companies that play a pivotal role in improving oral health care of the communities, we will focus on the Delta Dental insurance and how growth of the company improved access and overall health status. Delta Dental insurance was established in 1966. Over the years it faces many challenges to expand and increase access of dental care in community. The efforts paid the Delta Dental as widely accepted by community. This paper focuses on challenges Delta Dental had to face to build its pillar in the market. After evolution, Delta Dental insurance exponentially expanded due to its benefits and low primer. Over the years it has made strategies so that many people prefer Delta Dental over other insurances for maximum benefits, which helped improve oral health care. This paper will also highlight some of those strategies. Compare to other dental insurance company, Delta Dental insurance provide wide coverage and offer maximum benefits. This is a unique characteristic of the Delta Dental. We will talk about current structure of the Delta Dental and its future about how to improve oral care delivery of services to clients and enrollees, as well as how it fared compare to its peer insurance companies. Finally, the paper will mention about the future plan of the Delta Dental. In order to increase access to oral health care, in 1954, a group of dentists formed a dental service corporation in California, Oregon and Washington. It was lead by Washington Dental Service (WDS), and initiated by providing service to organized labor unions. Later, it expanded its services to all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Delta dental is now a fifteen billion dollar a year nationwide group providing dental insurance to 59 million Americans, making it one of the largest non-profits in the country (â€Å"Our Mission & History†, n.d.). Washington Dental Service was joined by more local organizations, which then created Delta Dental Plans Association (DDPA) in 1966. Shortly a year after, WDS partnered with the International Association of Machinists, which was the first step into creating a multi-state dental benefits program. There was a growing number of out of state subscribers, and therefore in order to meet their needs WDS worked with other Delta Dental member companies and Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association members, to continue serving its clients. It provided coverage until 1980’s this way (â€Å"Our Mission & History†, n.d.). The program continued as such until a bid was won by Delta Dental of California being chosen as the dental benefits carrier for the Office of the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (OCHAMPUS) program. In order for the administration of this very large account to be centralized, other member companies agreed to share its provider data with Delta Dental of California sharing the administrative income and risk. As a result of this change, the National Provider File (NPF), and the establishment in 1990 of Delta USA — was created, the company responsible for overseeing dentist data and enabling the administration of national business (â€Å"Our Mission & History†, n.d.). Currently, there are 39 independent Delta Dental member companies operating in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. As one of the largest dental benefits provider DDPA provides coverage to more than 59.5 million people enrolled in more than 97,000 groups. The company was named Dental Care until 1970’s and then it officially changed its name to Delta Dental (â€Å"About Us Home†, n.d.). All Delta Dental companies are members, or affiliate of members, of the Delta Dental Plans Association – a network of 39 Delta Dental companies throughout the country. Delta Dental companies range from multi-state to single state (â€Å"About Us Home†, n.d.). The multi-state programs consist of the following: Started in 1969, it provides coverage to over 1.5 million residents of New Jersey and Connecticut (â€Å"Delta Dental of New Jersey†, n.d.). * Delta Dental Plan of Michigan Michigan Dental Service (MDS) was established in 1957, and in 1963 it received its non-profit status. In 1980 MDS expanded to Ohio and Indiana. In early 2006, Delta Dental of Michigan, with its affiliates in Ohio and Indiana, and Tennessee, signed an affiliation agreement under a new nonprofit holding company to strengthen their market positions and increase the number of Americans with dental benefits. In 2009, Delta Dental of Kentucky and Delta Dental of New Mexico affiliated with the family of companies. The newest affiliate, Delta Dental of North Carolina, joined the enterprise in 2010. Currently they cover 8.8 million individuals (â€Å"Delta Dental of Michigan†, n.d.). It was founded in 1969, and later expanded to North Dakota. It is the largest program in the upper Midwest, serving 7500 Minnesota based on purchasing groups and 3.8 million members nationwide (â€Å"Delta Dental of Minnesota†, n.d.). Delta Dental of Missouri started 50 years ago and has offered dental and vision benefits in the states of Missouri and South Carolina. More than 1,800 companies in Missouri and South Carolina have selected Delta Dental as their dental benefits carrier. The Delta-Vision plan started in 2011 (â€Å"Delta Dental of Missouri†, n.d.). Dentegra is not affiliated with Delta Dental Plans Association. However, this insurance company is authorized by Delta Dental Plans Association to market and underwrites certain national Delta Dental programs. This plan covers 23 million Americans. It serves the states of: Alabama, California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Texas, Utah, Virgin Islands, West Virginia (â€Å"Why do more than†, n.d.). Hawaii Dental Service (HDS) is the first and largest nonprofit dental service corporation in Hawaii providing dental benefit plans to more than a half million members. This plan was incorporated on February 15, 1962, and soon 221 licensed dentists became charter members. HDS serves Guam, Hawaii and Northern Mariana Islands (â€Å"Caring, Visionary Dentists From HDS†, n.d.). NDD offers the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, providing quality dental care to millions of residents (â€Å"Northeast Delta Dental†, n.d.). This plan covers Alaska and Oregon. A research to find affordable dental health by Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union, led them to find Oregon Dental Service in 1955(â€Å"A trailblazer in health†, n.d.). * The single state companies include: Delta Dental of Arizona that started in 1972. Delta Dental of Arkansas, Delta Dental of Colorado began in 1958. Delta Dental of Idaho, Delta Dental of Illinois, Delta Dental of Iowa, Delta Dental of Kansas, Delta Dental of Massachusetts, Delta Dental of Nebraska, Delta Dental of Oklahoma, Delta Dental of Rhode Island, Delta Dental of South Dakota, Washington Dental Service, Delta Dental of Wisconsin, Delta Dental of Wyoming (â€Å"Delta Dental: Members†, n.d.). Delta Dental offers various plans for individuals, families and enrollees. There are 39 member companies of Delta Dental and each of them provides a variety of dental benefits programs. It also forms contacts with small and large business companies to provide dental insurance coverage for their employees (â€Å"Products and Plans†, n.d.). The various plans offered are the following: 1. Delta Dental Premier ®: This is their traditional fee-for-service plan with largest dentist network with more than four out of five nation’s dentist participating (â€Å"Delta Dental Premier ®Ã¢â‚¬ , n.d., p. 2). It allows patients to get treated by any licensed dentist and also can change dentists at any time without notifying Delta Dental. The main attraction for this plan is that you do not have to pay more than the co-insurance percentage specified by your coverage (â€Å"Delta Dental’s plans†, n.d.). The participating dentists agree to accept pre-negotiated fees and are prohibited from billing more. 2. Delta Dental PPOâ„  : This is a mid-priced fee-for-service plan with the secondary largest dentist network. It has an option to get treated by any dentists and still have lower out-of-pocket costs because the dentists in this network have agreed to do so (â€Å"Delta Dental’s plans†, n.d.). It also has a Delta Dental PPO plus Premier plan which includes all the benefits of Delta Dental PPO and also allows for a patient to see a Delta Dental Premier dentist with benefits of that dentist’s contracted fee (â€Å" Delta Dental PPOâ„   †, n.d.). 3. DeltaCare ® USA: It is a HMO-type prepaid plan with a large network of participating dentists. You must select a dentist from their network for this plan. The main features are there is no annual deductibles, no maximums for covered benefits and set copayments (â€Å"Delta Dental’s plans†, n.d .). 4. Delta Dental Individual and Family: Individual and its family can get the same quality dental benefits as provided by the employers under this plan. Delta Dental offers different plans in different states (â€Å"Delta Dental Individual and Family†, n.d.). 5. Delta Dental Legion ®: It is also known as TRICARE Retiree Dental Program. â€Å"The first and only dental benefits plan created by Congress especially for Uniformed Services retirees and their family members and administered by Delta Dental of California.†(â€Å"TRICARE Retiree Dental Program†, n.d.). 6. Delta Dental Patient Direct ®: It is a dental discount plan for individual, families and groups that do not have dental benefits. The patients choose dentists from the network and pay them directly with the discount price at the time of their treatment. No paper work is required and it is available in the selected markets only (â€Å"Delta Dental Patient Direct ®Ã¢â‚¬ , n.d.). 7. DeltaVision ®: This is vision benefit plan, which is offered in the selected markets only. It includes various pre-negotiated pricing eye-care services, such as professional eye exams, eyewear, contact lenses and laser vision correction (â€Å"DeltaVision ®Ã¢â‚¬ , n.d.). 8. Delta Dental Member Companies: â€Å"They serve nearly one-third of the estimated 173 million Americans with Dental insurance, providing dental insurance coverage to more than 54 million people in more than 93,000 groups across the nation.†(â€Å"Delta Dental Member Companies†, n.d.). There are other plans which are available in few selected populations and states like the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Dental Insurance Plan which is exclusively for AARP members and the Costco Group Dental Plan for the Individuals and Families, which is available only in California (â€Å"Delta Dental’s plans, n.d.). Strengths and weaknesses (especially with healthcare delivery point of view): Delta Dental is the largest dental care carrier in the United States, and they provide coverage to more than 59.5 million people enrolled in more than 97,000 groups. The strengths are obviously regarding to the high level access of the dental care. Many years ago, most of people lost their teeth by middle age, but now many Americans have very good oral health because of the various Delta Dental Plans. They may keep their teeth throughout the lifetime. There are some strengths of Delta Dental according to a recent study (â€Å"Delta Dental by the Numbers†, n.d.): * Delta Dental’s nationwide dentist networks offer unprecedented access: * Delta Dental Premier ® offers the largest network of dentists in the country — encompassing more than 142,000 dentists and more than 251,000 office locations. * Delta Dental PPOSM has a national network of more than 83,900 dentists practicing in more than 168,000 locations. * DeltaCare ® USA provides more than 39,800 dentist office locations. * Delta Dental’s PPO Plan delivers the industry’s best effective discount — averaging 19 percent nationally — resulting in nearly $3 billion in annual savings compared to dentists’ average charges. * Delta Dental posted approximately $17 billion in premium revenue during fiscal year 2011, our 32nd consecutive year of financial gains. * Delta Dental’s unique cost-control measures and contractual agreements with dentists help to ensure quality care at moderate fees, collectively saving subscribers with group dental coverage more than $9.0 billion in 2011. * In 2011, Delta Dental member companies processed more than 90 million dental claims or approximately 1.7 million every week, with an accuracy rate of 99.7 percent. Delta Dental focuses on the practice shari ng, best services, performance guarantees, brand name recognition and reputation, whereas, it still have weaknesses such as geographic limitations, innovative practices. Through the numbers above, people might think that we have more and more dentists in large networks so that we would get easy access to dental care, but how do these dentists located? Low-income patients still feel hard to get access to meet one dentist regularly due to the inconvenient transportation, difficulties on appointments, and so on. The president and CEO of Delta Dental, Radine (2011) wrote on â€Å"Annual Report 2011†, â€Å"Delta Dental takes pride in being a single-line carrier with unparalleled expertise in dental benefits, our specialty.† Indeed, they against larger, multi-line insurance companies, and they use competitive strategies to survive during the worst of the economic downturn. However, this kind of single-line model can also be a weakness of dental health care, because coordination of dentists needed to reinforce to increase the quality of companies health care performance. Single-line service may hinder such coordination in between the large dentist network, although they meet the needs for restraining the continuous increased costs. As each program have dissimilar strengths and weaknesses and according to Access to Dental Care/Oral Health Care (American Dental Association, 2012), there are still barriers to getting oral health care: * The dental sections in Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP), which are supposed to provide health care to disadvantaged Americans, rarely have enough money budgeted to do so. Federal law requires that Medicaid cover basic dental services. But many state programs fail to deliver care to even half of their eligible children. * Adult dental coverage through public health programs is even worse; many states simply don’t provide it. It’s not just about the money. Patients covered under public programs still face hurdles, such as transportation to dental appointments and the difficulty of missing work to keep the appointments. Taking care of ourselves is the key to good oral health, and too many Americans lack a basic understanding of how to brush, floss, eat a healthy diet and drink water with fluoride in it. * About one-third of public water systems are not fluoridated, even though that is the single most effective public health measure to protect against tooth decay. And also, people need to treat what form of coverage they require most and make sure the selected plan provides a low price for the needed processes. Comparison of Delta Dental with all other dental insurances: There are many essential things to keep in mind when deciding on a dental insurance plan, such as prices and co-payment options, local dentist availability, actual coverage, whether it meets your needs and more (â€Å"Dental Insurance Review†, n.d.). Delta Dental Insurance ranking at number three after United Concordia and Ameritas Group Dental is one of the top ten insurance plans in the United States (â€Å"2013 Dental Insurance Comparison†, n.d.). As one of the largest dental coverage plans, founded by dentists, it creates dental coverage plans based on current research and designed to keep people their healthiest and most productive (â€Å"Choosing the Right Dental Plan†, n.d.). Delta Dental Insurance pursues their mission by increasing access to benefits, offering the largest national network of dentists, adding innovative new plan features, aggressively working to keep costs down, and supporting p hilanthropic programs that encourage better overall oral health. Delta Dental Insurance plans offer top of the line features and programs to make insurance services more accessible and convenient for its members. Some of the features that Delta Dental Insurance consists are secure and accessible sites for online enrollment, finding dentists and getting information about available plans. It offers Group/Employer plans, which is important as it gives companies information on the cost of getting dental insurance for their employees. This is important as well for families who wish to enroll other members of the family into the insurance plan. Also Delta Dental Insurance offers individual plans, provides up-front cost information for customers and has Better Business Bureau (BBB) accreditation (â€Å"Dental Insurance Review†, n.d.). Better Business Bureau accreditation is definitely a plus, because they provide ratings based on customer service and satisfaction of members. In addition, Delta Dental Insurance offers multiple types of different plans for its consumers. There is Delta Dental Preferred Provider Organization (PPO), DeltaCare ® USA (Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) option), Fee-for-Service (FFS) Plan, and they also used to offer Discount Plans. But the Discounted Plans are no longer offered by Delta Dental since majority of the members prefer PPO, HMO and FFS plans. The Delta Dental PPO plan is offered worldwide, and for that reason it is more accessible even if the customer relocates (â€Å"Choosing between a PPO and HMO†, n.d.). When choosing a PPO dentist, the out of-pocket costs of customers are often lower because PPO dentists have agreed to charge Delta Dental PPO patients reduced fees. The plan also pays enhanced benefits when patients visit a PPO dentist, so they pay only 20 percent of the PPO dentist’s contracted fee after their deductible for such services as fillings, oral surgery, root canals and treatment of gum disease in addition to other benefit enhancements (â€Å"Types of Dental Plans†, n.d.). Delta Dental PPO does not cover teeth bleaching and other cosmetic procedures (â€Å"University of California†, 2009). The good thing about a PPO plan is that customers have the freedom to choose any licensed dentist, anywhere in the world, each time the member or a family member requires treatment. And there is no referral required for specialty care. On the other hand, DeltaCare ® USA (HMO option) customers must be residents of California to enroll. It provides individuals and their families with inclusive plans and easy referrals to specialists and even has a benefit for teeth bleaching. The plan emphasizes preventive care; so many services are provided at no cost. There is no annual plan maximum for DeltaCare ® USA (â€Å"Types of Dental Plans†, n.d.). As an HMO member, customers are assigned to network dentist that accept the plans and they must be referred specialist by their assigned dentists. Fee-for-service plans, also known as indemnity or traditional plans, typically offer the greatest choice of dentists. It is up to the customer what dentist to choose or procedure they would like to purchase. Like PPO plans, when you visit a network dentist, you typically pay a certain percentage for each service (called coinsurance) and the plan pays the rest. The percentage usually varies by the type of coverage, such as diagnostic and preventive, major services, etc. (â€Å"Types of Dental Plans†, n.d.). However with FFS plan the member might pay a little extra than the PPO plan. And finally, the Discounted Plans are insurance plans that are offered at reduced rates. There is generally no paperwork, annual limits or deductibles, but you must visit a participating dentist to receive the discount. Also, you may be responsible for a greater portion of the treatment cost compare to PPO or HMO plan. The downside of this plan was the fact that there was a possibility of the dentists being changed annually, and new dentists would be assigned to the customers. But on the plus side, the rates that the customers would receive would be unbeatable. Figure 1 shows the continued growth in enrolment throughout the recession. This also proves that Delta Dental is the largest dental carrier in the United States and it has more than 26 million enrollees at present (â€Å"Delta Dental: Annual Report2011†, n.d., p. 10). Figure 1: Shows the increase in the enrollment of Delta Dental plans by the population. The Y-axis shows the number of enrollees in increasing order and the X-axis shows the years starting from 2008-2012. Adapted from: â€Å"Delta Dental: Annual Report 2011.† (n.d., p. 10). Why is Delta Dental better and more successful than other insurances? Delta Dental offers some of the best dental insurance plans in the United States and around the world since 1954 and as the first company exclusively specializing in dental benefits, Delta Dental has been working hard to improve oral health around the world by providing access to the largest network of dentists, great service, top of the line care plans and developing relationships that emphasize prevention and positive oral health care results over the long term (Delta Dental, 2010). Over 56 million enrollees trust Delta Dental Insurance plans with their oral health and the numbers of satisfied members keep growing (â€Å"Why do more than†, n.d.). â€Å"In 2011, the vast majority of surveyed enrollees from our open network plans said they would recommend Delta Dental to a family or friend. That loyalty is also evident in our exceptionally high enrollee retention rate.† (â€Å"Delta Dental 2011 Annual Report†, n.d., p. 11). Figure 2 which is adapted from the â€Å"Delta Dental: Annual Report 2011† (n.d., p. 11) shows the percentage of enrollee satisfaction and enrollee retention in 2011. Figure 2: The percentage of Enrollee satisfaction and Enrollee Retention. 95% of the Enrollees were satisfied with their Delta Dental Plan and 99% of the Enrollees retained their Delta Dental plan. Adapted from: â€Å"Delta Dental: Annual Report 2011† (n.d., p. 11) Delta dental has proven itself as one of the good companies in the market but still they are working diligently to make it better. Delta Dental supports projects in conjunction with major universities and other leading research organizations that are designed to advance scientific knowledge and improve health. Among the projects, recently supports are: a study on the potential for dentists to play a greater role in the detection of health conditions such as diabetes; the cost impact of oral cancer; the application of salivary diagnostics to dentistry; and the development of biotechnology to advance health (Carruth, 2012). All these are the major projects of Delta Dental. Delta Dental is trying to identify ways to improve offerings in ways that will reduce costs while still covering the treatment our subscribers need to stay healthy. Delta Dental will focus on expanding their network in remote places and provide oral care. They are planning continue creating dynamic product lines that provide effective benefits to improve oral health–and overall health – while reducing costs. Delta Dental would concentrate on providing good customer service staff as well as an automated phone line for inquiries. Delta Dental has received many awards in improving oral health care. Their current plans are focused on expanding their network and providing good care for the patients. Delta Dental’s strategies are such that not only patients but also dentist and employees are benefitted. They also focus on many researches to improve quality of care. Moreover, their future plans are focus on reducing cost and providing quality of care for patients. They are providing funds for incurable diseases like cancer and other malignancy. References: A trailblazer in health. n.d.). and your family. r local member companies. Retrieved form: http://www.deltadental.com/Public/PlanInfo/planAddressStart.jsp Delta Dental (n.d.). DeltaVision ®.

Nokia Managing problems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

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