Delta Dental - History

History

Delta Dental's roots go back to 1954 with the formation of dental service corporations in California, Oregon and Washington, which were created by dentists who recognized the need to increase access to oral health care. Led by Washington Dental Service (WDS), Delta Dental began by providing dental benefit programs for organized labor unions.

Delta Dental Plans Association (DDPA) was created in 1966 to bring together these local state service organizations and coordinate dental benefit programs for customers with employees in multiple states. A year later, the first multi-state program was sold by WDS to the International Association of Machinists. WDS ceded the administration for enrollees in other states to other Delta Dental member companies and contracted with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association for administration in those states without a Delta Dental affiliate organization.

Coverage was provided this way until the late 1980s when the Delta Dental of California (DDCA) won the bid for the Office of the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (OCHAMPUS) program. Delta Dental member companies agreed to share its provider data so the administration of this very large account could be centralized, with Delta Dental of California sharing the administrative income and risk. The OCHAMPUS program led to the creation of the National Provider File (NPF), which was made available for commercial accounts in 1990 via Delta USA – providing Delta Dental coverage to organizations with employees and subscribers located in multiple states.