One year after the Change Healthcare crisis exposed critical vulnerabilities in healthcare data systems, Vyne Dental, a leading provider of dental revenue technologies and electronic health information exchange solutions, is joining industry leaders in advocating for greater open data access and improved interoperability across dental healthcare systems.
“Open data allows for data portability—the primary intent and ‘P’ in HIPAA—which is not just beneficial but required by law,” said Dr. Bryan Laskin, dental technology advocate and advisor to Vyne Dental. “Along with the data availability mandates in the 21st Century Cures Act, these regulations exist to empower providers and patients. Open data drives competition, fuels innovation, and enables provider choice while creating better transparency. Ultimately, it gives patients greater control, security, and agency over their own healthcare data and clinical dental records.”
The dental industry continues to face challenges with data siloing in practice management systems (PMS) that restrict information flow between providers, patients, and payers—creating unnecessary barriers to efficient care delivery and practice management.
Open data solutions deliver significant benefits to the entire dental industry:
For Dental Providers:
- More seamless workflows and reduced administrative burden
- Enhanced clinical decision-making through integrated systems
- Greater choice in technology solutions without vendor lock-in
- Improved claims processing efficiency and faster payments
- Ability to de-risk revenue cycles by selecting multiple clearinghouse options
- Protection from future industry-wide disruptions like the Change Healthcare event
For Patients:
- Improved access to care and enhanced continuity of treatment
- Reduced delays in insurance verification and treatment approvals
- Greater transparency in treatment and cost information
- Better overall care experience through data-enabled practices
For Technology Partners:
- Increased innovation potential across the dental technology landscape
- Faster software integration and reduced development costs
- A more competitive ecosystem driving continuous improvement
“The Change Healthcare crisis exposed critical vulnerabilities in our industry’s approach to data management,” said Paul Bernard, chief product officer at Vyne Dental. “We learned that practice management systems need multiple clearinghouse options rather than a single-threaded approach that creates significant financial impacts for providers and patients. Despite these clear lessons, many PMS systems have reverted to assigning all clearinghouse transaction volume to a single clearinghouse vendor—putting practices at risk once again. Open data standards are essential to creating more resilient systems and giving providers control over their own risk management.”
Looking to other industries provides valuable insights. Medical healthcare saw progress through the 21st Century Cures Act and FHIR standards adoption, which led to 57% of hospitals using FHIR APIs for patient data exchange by 2022, according to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.
Similarly, the EU’s Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which mandated open banking APIs, resulted in a 10% improvement in financial transaction efficiency, according to a 2021 McKinsey report, while telecommunications regulation enabling number portability increased consumer choice and service quality.
“We face significant barriers to achieving open data in dentistry,” added Dr. Laskin. “These include a perverse and opaque incentive structure where PMS systems keep structural payer incentives for themselves, a lack of visibility into the systemic risk these practices create, insufficient oversight and enforcement of existing laws, and a power imbalance between PMS systems and their provider customers. This is compounded by a lack of unified provider advocacy for change. The time has come to address these barriers head-on.”
To support industry progress toward greater data openness, Vyne Dental is:
- Creating educational resources on open data benefits for dental practices
- Supporting industry-wide standards for secure data exchange
- Collaborating with like-minded organizations to advance interoperability
- Developing solutions that prioritize seamless data integration
Industry stakeholders can access resources and learn more at vynedental.com/interoperability.
About Vyne Dental
Vyne Dental provides end-to-end revenue acceleration by engaging practices, payers, and patients via vendor-neutral connectivity, claims and attachment management, and the facilitation of secure communications solutions. Vyne Dental is part of the Vyne family, an industry leader in healthcare information exchange, revenue cycle management, and patient communication. Vyne Dental is leading a paradigm shift in the dental industry toward real-time claims and payment resolution to improve provider and payer financial performance while fostering patient satisfaction and loyalty. The company has been named to the Inc. 5000 annual list of the nation’s most prestigious and fastest-growing private companies for 15 consecutive years. Learn more at vynedental.com.
