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Assessment of Dentist Participation in Public Insurance Programs for Children in the US

IMPORTANCE: Evaluating the availability of dentists to provide dental care services to children is important for identifying interventions for improving access. OBJECTIVE: To assess dental care availability for children in the US by public insurance participation, rural-urban setting, and dentist ta...

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Autores principales: Serban, Nicoleta, Anderson, Annalea, Oberst, Grace, Edupuganti, Neel, Ramachandran, Rohit, Solipuram, Shalini R., Lu, Tina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Medical Association 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9274318/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35816300
http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.21444
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author Serban, Nicoleta
Anderson, Annalea
Oberst, Grace
Edupuganti, Neel
Ramachandran, Rohit
Solipuram, Shalini R.
Lu, Tina
author_facet Serban, Nicoleta
Anderson, Annalea
Oberst, Grace
Edupuganti, Neel
Ramachandran, Rohit
Solipuram, Shalini R.
Lu, Tina
author_sort Serban, Nicoleta
collection PubMed
description IMPORTANCE: Evaluating the availability of dentists to provide dental care services to children is important for identifying interventions for improving access. OBJECTIVE: To assess dental care availability for children in the US by public insurance participation, rural-urban setting, and dentist taxonomy (general, pediatric, or specialized). DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional study analyzed the availability of dentists from matching 3 data sets: the 2020 National Plan and Provider Enumeration System, the 2019-2020 State Board of Dentistry information acquired from each state, and the 2019 InsureKidsNow.org database. Data on active dentists in most states (including the District of Columbia [combined hereinafter with states] and excluding Hawaii and Washington) were included in the analysis. The study was conducted from January 2019 to March 2022. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The number and percentage of dentists participating in public insurance programs (Medicaid and/or Children’s Health Insurance Program [CHIP]) were aggregated at the dental office and stratified by the rurality of their practice and taxonomy. State-level comparisons were derived between this study and reports from the Health Policy Institute of the American Dental Association, along with maps and summary statistics disseminated through a data portal and state reports. RESULTS: Among 204 279 active dentists, participation in public insurance varied widely across states, especially for the states that manage the Medicaid and CHIP programs separately. Participation rates in Medicaid and CHIP varied substantially from those of the Health Policy Institute of the American Dental Association. Participation in Medicaid and CHIP was lowest among urban dentists (Medicaid, 26%; CHIP, 29%) and highest among rural dentists (Medicaid, 39%; CHIP, 40%), while urban dentists accounted for most of the dentist population (urban, 84%; rural, 5%). Similarly, participation in Medicaid and CHIP was substantially lower among general dentists (Medicaid, 28%; CHIP, 29%) vs pediatric dentists (57% in both programs), while each state’s dentist population consisted of notably more general (84%) than pediatric (3%) dentists. Nearly half of the states revealed wide variations in Medicaid and CHIP participation between counties, ranging from no participation (21 states) to full participation (22 states). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The findings of this study suggest that disparities in the availability of dentists for pediatric dental care are extensive, particularly for Medicaid- and CHIP-insured children, those living in rural communities, and those receiving specialized care. Lack of dentist availability for Medicaid- and CHIP-insured children appears to deter access to receiving dental care.
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spelling pubmed-92743182022-07-28 Assessment of Dentist Participation in Public Insurance Programs for Children in the US Serban, Nicoleta Anderson, Annalea Oberst, Grace Edupuganti, Neel Ramachandran, Rohit Solipuram, Shalini R. Lu, Tina JAMA Netw Open Original Investigation IMPORTANCE: Evaluating the availability of dentists to provide dental care services to children is important for identifying interventions for improving access. OBJECTIVE: To assess dental care availability for children in the US by public insurance participation, rural-urban setting, and dentist taxonomy (general, pediatric, or specialized). DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional study analyzed the availability of dentists from matching 3 data sets: the 2020 National Plan and Provider Enumeration System, the 2019-2020 State Board of Dentistry information acquired from each state, and the 2019 InsureKidsNow.org database. Data on active dentists in most states (including the District of Columbia [combined hereinafter with states] and excluding Hawaii and Washington) were included in the analysis. The study was conducted from January 2019 to March 2022. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The number and percentage of dentists participating in public insurance programs (Medicaid and/or Children’s Health Insurance Program [CHIP]) were aggregated at the dental office and stratified by the rurality of their practice and taxonomy. State-level comparisons were derived between this study and reports from the Health Policy Institute of the American Dental Association, along with maps and summary statistics disseminated through a data portal and state reports. RESULTS: Among 204 279 active dentists, participation in public insurance varied widely across states, especially for the states that manage the Medicaid and CHIP programs separately. Participation rates in Medicaid and CHIP varied substantially from those of the Health Policy Institute of the American Dental Association. Participation in Medicaid and CHIP was lowest among urban dentists (Medicaid, 26%; CHIP, 29%) and highest among rural dentists (Medicaid, 39%; CHIP, 40%), while urban dentists accounted for most of the dentist population (urban, 84%; rural, 5%). Similarly, participation in Medicaid and CHIP was substantially lower among general dentists (Medicaid, 28%; CHIP, 29%) vs pediatric dentists (57% in both programs), while each state’s dentist population consisted of notably more general (84%) than pediatric (3%) dentists. Nearly half of the states revealed wide variations in Medicaid and CHIP participation between counties, ranging from no participation (21 states) to full participation (22 states). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The findings of this study suggest that disparities in the availability of dentists for pediatric dental care are extensive, particularly for Medicaid- and CHIP-insured children, those living in rural communities, and those receiving specialized care. Lack of dentist availability for Medicaid- and CHIP-insured children appears to deter access to receiving dental care. American Medical Association 2022-07-11 /pmc/articles/PMC9274318/ /pubmed/35816300 http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.21444 Text en Copyright 2022 Serban N et al. JAMA Network Open. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License.
spellingShingle Original Investigation
Serban, Nicoleta
Anderson, Annalea
Oberst, Grace
Edupuganti, Neel
Ramachandran, Rohit
Solipuram, Shalini R.
Lu, Tina
Assessment of Dentist Participation in Public Insurance Programs for Children in the US
title Assessment of Dentist Participation in Public Insurance Programs for Children in the US
title_full Assessment of Dentist Participation in Public Insurance Programs for Children in the US
title_fullStr Assessment of Dentist Participation in Public Insurance Programs for Children in the US
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of Dentist Participation in Public Insurance Programs for Children in the US
title_short Assessment of Dentist Participation in Public Insurance Programs for Children in the US
title_sort assessment of dentist participation in public insurance programs for children in the us
topic Original Investigation
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9274318/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35816300
http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.21444
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