National Dental Contract Management (NDCM) service - England only
Following the successful pilot and phase one completion of the mid-year review and year-end reconciliation activities in 2017 and 2018, the national roll out of contract reconciliation activities for all NHS Dental contracts in England by the NHSBSA Provider Assurance Dental team (NHSBSA PAD) was completed in October 2019.
NHSBSA PAD now supports all NHS England & NHS Improvement (NHSEI) regional dental commissioning teams in the delivery of mid-year reviews and the year-end reconciliation.
The objectives of the collaboration between NHSEI regional teams & NHSBSA PAD is to:
- enable the development of a single operating model for mid-year and year-end reconciliation
- ensure consistency for providers
- enable providers to address any underperformance issues before the end of the financial year
- allow NHSEI a greater focus on dental commissioning
- provide a single point of contact for dental providers querying their mid-year and year-end activity
Mid-year review overview
The mid-year review gives providers the opportunity to identify and correct any potential issues before the annual year-end reconciliation.
Providers who have not met their expected contracted activity from the previous year may have activity carried forward into the current financial year. They must complete this carried-forward activity first. It does not count towards the achievement of the mid-year review for the current financial year. Any activity carried forward is deducted from the current year’s activity to give an adjusted figure. All providers receive their adjusted figure as part of their mid-year review.
Providers whose adjusted activity is more than 30% of their contracted delivery at the mid-year point are encouraged to review their activity. This will help providers to deliver activity for the rest of the year that’s consistent with their contract. No further action is required.
Providers with less than 30% must complete a mid-year review action plan. This should detail their plans on how they expect to deliver the agreed activity to meet their contract obligations.
For a very small number of providers, failure to provide an action plan, or failure to deliver against the agreed action plan, may result in contract sanctions being levied against the contract. Prior to any contract sanctions being placed on the contract, the commissioner or NHSBSA Provider Assurance will be in open dialogue with the provider.
Year-end reconciliation overview
The completion of a year-end final reconciliation is a requirement for all dental contracts. The following service lines are reconciled at the end of each financial year:
- Units of Dental Activity (UDA).
- Units of Orthodontic Activity (UOA).
- Courses of treatment that involve provision of sedation services.
- Courses of treatment that involve provision of domiciliary services.
We support NHSEI regional commissioning teams to review the annual contracted target against the actual delivered activity. This reconciliation process is completed by September each year.
PDS+ contracts and advanced service providers sit outside the scope of the reconciliation process for the NHSBSA PAD. NHSEI regional dental commissioning teams should contact PDS+ and advanced service providers to explain their contract attainment and the process to follow.
Information and data overview
The information and data included in the year-end reconciliation and mid-year review is submitted by providers using:
Claims are accepted on the Compass system up to 2 months from the completion date of the course of treatment.
Claims submitted later than this must still be submitted, as per the regulations. However, these claims will not be included in mid and year-end reconciliation.
Only claims submitted up to and including 30 September are included as part of the mid-year reconciliation. To make sure all claims are included in your reconciliation you should submit all claims by the mid and year-end cut off dates.
Providers should discuss the Compass scheduling dates with their team responsible for submitting claims. The responsibility to submit claims within 2 months remains with the provider.
‘Late claims’ submitted outside of the 2-month window should still be submitted to ensure accurate reporting of patient treatments. These are processed for patient charge revenue but do not count towards delivery figures. This includes when a course of treatment is closed before completion.
You can find out more information about late claims in our Knowledge Base.
All submission information is available to providers by 1 July every year on the year-end statement. Be aware that this is the activity data gathered directly from Compass and is still subject to change following the year-end reconciliation process. This is finalised in the year-end letter before 31 July. Providers also have access to monthly schedules in Compass, as well as the year-end report.
From 2020/21, providers will also be able to view their year-end data in the year-end dashboard on Eden.
You can find contact details for regional commissioning teams on our dedicated contact page.
Contract management arrangements for 2022/23
On behalf of NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI), we recently emailed dental providers a letter covering year-end arrangements and 2022/23.
Additional information from NHSEI for dental providers in England (Word: 65KB) is now available.
Mid-year review 2022/23
NHSBSA PAD will deliver a mid-year review for 2022/23 in line with the contract management arrangements detailed in the Dental Services year-end arrangements and 2022/23 letter.
The mid-year review is communicated to dental contracts, in relation to the following service lines only:
• Units of Dental Activity (UDA)
• Units of Orthodontic Activity (UOA)
All letters will be uploaded to Compass and we will send a communication to all business owner email addresses held in Compass to advise when the letters are available to view.
For contractors to view the letter log in to Compass and:
1. Select Reporting
2. View Published Reports
3. Input MYRPR into the Report Type field
For commissioners to view the letters log in to Compass and:
1. Select Reporting
2. View Published Reports
3. Input MYRCR into the Report Type field
NHSBSA PAD will send letters to all contractors informing them of the level of activity that they have delivered at the mid-year point (1 April to 30 September).
Contractors that have delivered more than 30% will be informed that they will not be required to undertake a mid-year review and that no further action will be required.
Contractors that have delivered less than 30% at the mid-year point and ex-prototype contractors that have delivered less than 27% at the mid-year point, will be required to complete an action plan.
Contract management arrangements for 2021/22
On behalf of NHSEI, we're hosting guidance documents to support the NHS dental contract reform and arrangements letter:Guidance to support preparedness letter issue 8 and dental contract management arrangements for April 2021 to 30 September 2021 (PDF: 383KB)Issue 2 - Clarification points to support April to September 2021 to 2022 guidance (Word:246KB)
Mid-year review 2021/22
NHSBSA PAD will deliver a mid-year review for 2021/22 in line with the contract management arrangements detailed in the NHSEI preparedness letter issue 8.
The mid-year review is communicated to dental contracts, in relation to the following service lines only:
- Units of Dental Activity (UDA)
- Units of Orthodontic Activity (UOA)
All letters will be uploaded into Compass and we will send a communication to all business owner email addresses held in Compass to advise when the letters are available to view.
For contractors to view the letter:
- Select Reporting
- View Published Reports
- Input MYRPR into the Report Type field
For commissioners to view the letters:
- Select Reporting
- View Published Reports
- Input MYRCR into the Report Type field
COVID-19 dental staff absence exceptional circumstances arrangements
If you need to report a staff absence between 1 December 2021 and 31 March 2022, download and complete the template for reporting COVID-19 dental staff absences (Word: 18KB). Email the completed form to nhsbsa.dentalcases@nhs.net.
More details can be found in NHS England and NHS Improvement's COVID-19 Exceptional Circumstance arrangements Policy Statement. Our operational flow chart (Word: 57KB) also shows how we will be supporting Providers and regional commissioning teams with the COVID-19 Exceptional Circumstances (EC) Arrangements.