Press Releases

DentaQuest Ventures Named to AARP List of “Best Employers for Workers Over 50” -- 10/6/2004

DentaQuest Ventures Inc. has been named to the 2004 listing of the AARP Best Employers for Workers Over 50 list.

Now in its fourth year, AARP’s Best Employers program recognizes those businesses that are ahead of the curve in recruiting and retaining mature workers. The 2004 list includes 35 employers from 18 states.

"This year's AARP Best Employers not only recognize the value and potential of mature workers - they treat them right," said AARP Massachusetts State Director Deborah Banda. "These employers understand workforce demographics are about to shift dramatically, and they have created roadmaps to the workplaces of the future."

DentaQuest Ventures was recognized for its success in addressing the changing workforce, in part through the promotion of diversity initiatives that provide programs focusing on the management of mature workers.

“I believe this is a tremendously important issue,” said DentaQuest Ventures President and CEO Bob Hunter. “The integration of older workers into the workforce is critical for sustained business success today and into the future.”

According to Hunter, DentaQuest Ventures is committed to performance excellence and answers more than two million customer calls per year with a 96 percent access rate, processes more than seven million claims per year with 99.6 percent financial accuracy, and processes more than 500,000 enrollment forms a year with over 99 percent accuracy company-wide.

“That commitment to customer service excellence ties directly to our efforts to embrace mature workers – we’ve found that more mature workers, due in part to their age as well as their experience, have an innate ability to fully appreciate and uphold our service guarantees,” said Hunter.

“We put our money where our mouth is, so to speak, when it comes to customer service – if we fail to meet our service benchmarks, we pay our clients a portion of their premium back. Therefore it’s important for our staff to take our guarantees of service excellence quite seriously – and I’ve seen that our more mature workers have certainly done so and have helped us continue to meet our service levels month after month.

“I would like to congratulate Fran Gallitano, DentaQuest VP of Human Resources and the whole DentaQuest HR department for providing the critical leadership necessary to earn this prestigious award,” said Hunter.

Simultaneous to AARP's Best Employers announcement, the organization released a new report, "Staying Ahead of the Curve: Employer Best Practices for Mature Workers." Authored by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, the report spotlights business best practices for mature workers.

DentaQuest Ventures, Inc. is one of the largest dental benefit service companies in the country with more than eight and one half million members. Headquartered in Boston, DentaQuest employs 650 people nationwide. DentaQuest’s subsidiary, DentaQuest Mid-Atlantic, located in Calverton, MD, offers a full spectrum of commercial dental plans, including indemnity, PPO, managed care, dual-option, and voluntary plans throughout Maryland and the District of Columbia. The company’s Doral Dental USA subsidiary, located in Mequon, WI, is one of the largest multi-state administrators of government dental programs in the U.S.

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