By Steve Pollock, President and Chief
Executive Officer
I have always been committed to the
mission of our organization – to improve the oral health of all. Since taking
the helm at DentaQuest, I’ve spent the last two months traveling the country
and hearing firsthand what our mission means to our employees, community and
business partners, and state leaders. I will draw on the themes I heard
throughout my time on the road to fully inform DentaQuest’s path forward:
Our employees are our strongest asset. I find myself saying this over and over
again. And, during my first two months, I continue to be inspired by the
passion DentaQuest employees have for the work they do and the people they serve.
My commitment is to continue to fuel the passion of our employees and identify
ways to strengthen our connection to the mission and each other.
Partnerships are essential. We cannot be successful without strong
community, government and business partnerships. I take pride in the fact that the
DentaQuest family of affiliates is thought of as a strong and collaborative
partner. Whether it is engaging at the grassroots level in a community, talking
to providers about opportunities for telehealth, or collaborating with national
health plans on new and innovative approaches to medical-dental integration, partnerships
are necessary to improve the oral health of all. Having a strong network of
collaborators strengthens the work we do, the clients we serve and the members
we support.
Policymakers are looking to industry for
innovative solutions. Our
leaders in government are looking to industry experts to help inform policy
decisions. The healthcare environment is ripe for data-driven, cost-effective
solutions that achieve “The Triple Aim” of improved health for the population, better
experience of care and lower per capita cost of care. DentaQuest, in
collaboration with our partners, can serve a key role in ensuring that
government policy supports the goal of improving the oral health of all.
Our organization has an incredible
responsibility to the 23 million people we serve across the country yet I am
equally aware of the 83 million people in our country who do not have access to
oral care.
It is all of these people who drive our collective
agenda and our commitment to health equity. They drive the work of the
DentaQuest Foundation, and the incredible grassroots and grasstops network it
helps foster. Their needs motivate the DentaQuest Institute in developing new
approaches to the management – and elimination – of dental disease. They are
what drive the DentaQuest Care Group to open dental clinics in chronically-underserved
areas in the United States.
As I look to the future, I see great
opportunity for DentaQuest to drive positive social impact. Our mission – to
improve the oral health of all – remains the centerpiece of our work and we
will continue to measure our success against it.