Daily Summaries 

Tuesday – 02/17/2026

On this day, I started by looking into other universities and colleges across the country to see if any schools operate health centers with dental clinics similar to UGA’s model. This helped me compare what we are proposing with what already exists in other campus settings and identify any patterns in how those programs are structured. After that, I shifted into the legal side of the Dental Savings Plan (DSP). I read through the ADA guidelines for in-house membership plans to better understand how a non-insurance plan can be offered appropriately and what language and features need to be avoided to stay compliant. I then reviewed Georgia Senate Bill 18 (2019), which outlines legislation related to Direct Primary Care Agreements in Georgia, to better understand how this type of payment structure is treated legally in the state. I then translated what I learned from SB 18 into clear, stakeholder-friendly slide content so the committee can understand the legal considerations without getting lost in technical wording. I ended the day by developing potential marketing strategies for the DSP, including designing a poster to promote awareness and increase engagement among students and other eligible patients. 

Thursday – 02/19/2026

On this day, I continued strengthening the “implementation and compliance” portion of the DSP presentation. I went back through the ADA guidance and the SB 18 notes I pulled earlier in the week and refined the slide wording to make the legal points more concise and easier to follow. I focused on making sure the presentation clearly explains how the DSP functions as a membership-style payment option rather than insurance, and how that distinction impacts how we talk about the plan, document it, and apply it in the clinic. I also reviewed my university comparisons again to pull out the most relevant examples and align them with our proposal so the Core Operations team can see that the DSP concept fits within broader norms and is realistic in a campus clinic setting. I then analyzed ledgers of patients with the Delta Dental offered to UGA faculty and staff and added this information to the slides about the Delta Dental preventive care coverage that is currently offered to the UGA faculty and students. I wanted to add this information to have a comparison between the student options and the faculty/staff options to illustrate that there is a gap in access in both populations. I then began finalizing the spelling and grammatical details of the presentation and writing the final script in preparation for the presentation to stakeholders in a week and a half.

Summary of Week 6 with Competencies 

• 1.4 Synthesize assessment findings to inform the planning process.
  • 1.4.1 Compare findings to norms, existing data, and other information.
  • This week, I compared our developing DSP proposal to what other universities and colleges are doing across the country in similar health center settings. By identifying comparable campus dental clinic models and reviewing how they structure access and payment options, I was able to place our plan in context and strengthen the rationale behind it. This comparison helped me make sure the DSP is aligned with realistic norms for university-based care and supported by outside examples rather than being designed in isolation.
• 2.4
  • 2.4.3 Address factors that influence implementation.
  • I focused heavily on implementation factors this week by digging into the legal and policy considerations of offering a non-insurance savings plan. By reviewing the ADA guidelines for in-house membership plans and Georgia Senate Bill 18 (2019), I gained a clearer understanding of what makes a plan compliant and how to communicate the DSP appropriately. This work directly supports implementation planning because legal clarity impacts how the plan is marketed, how the clinic documents enrollment, and how the program is structured to avoid being classified as insurance.
• 4.5
  • 4.5.1 Communicate findings by preparing reports, and presentations, and by other means.
  • Throughout the week, I translated legal and policy information into clear slide content that can be understood by a stakeholder audience that may not have a clinical or legal background. Rather than presenting the legislation as dense text, I focused on summarizing the key implications in a way that supports decision-making for the Core Operations team. This strengthened the communication quality of the DSP proposal and improved the presentation’s ability to explain the “why” and “how” behind the plan’s structure.

Week 6 Summaries 

During my sixth week at the UGA UHC Dental Clinic, I focused on strengthening the external comparison to other colleges and universities and the legal validity of the proposal in preparation for our presentation in two weeks. I began by researching other universities and colleges across the country to see if any health centers operate dental clinics similar to UGA’s, and I used these examples to compare our plan to existing models and prices in other campus settings. This comparison of UGA to other college’s dental clinics helped me better frame the DSP as a realistic, practical option within UHC, rather than an experimental, unique concept. 

I also shifted my focus this week to the legal and in-office implementation side of the DSP. I reviewed the ADA guidelines for in-house membership plans to better understand the boundaries of a non-insurance plan and what requirements and limitations need to be considered when designing and implementing the program. I also read through Georgia Senate Bill 18 (2019) to understand how Georgia addresses Direct Primary Care Agreements and how that impacts the structure and advertising of the DSP. I then worked on translating these legal considerations into clear, understandable slide content for the stakeholder audience so the Core Operations team can evaluate the proposal with a full understanding of compliance and feasibility. I then began developing potential marketing strategies for the DSP, including designing a poster to promote awareness and increase engagement among students and other eligible patients. After completing the advertising information, I added information to the slides about the Delta Dental preventive care coverage that is currently offered to the UGA faculty and students. I wanted to add this information to have a comparison between the student options and the faculty/staff options to illustrate that there is a gap in access in both populations. I then began finalizing the spelling and grammatical details of the presentation and writing the final script in preparation for the presentation to stakeholders in a week and a half. Overall, Week 6 helped me strengthen both the credibility and practicality of the DSP by grounding it in real-world comparisons and clear legal considerations while improving how this information is communicated through the final presentation.