A study commissioned by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services calls for the state to begin planning for expanded function dental assistants (EFDAs) and dental health aide therapists (DHATs) to expand access to dental care.
A proposal by the Marshfield Clinic to launch a new dental school is premature, and raising Medicaid reimbursement to dentists is too expensive, according to the study findings.
The Wisconsin Dental Association "agrees with the findings," the organization said in a press release. It focused on the study report's recommendation for a pilot program in which a private insurer would manage the state's Medicaid dental program.
While the state has 955,336 residents eligible for Medicaid, only 25% of those enrolled in the program receive dental care, the study authors found. The rate is even lower in rural counties.
In the short term, higher priorities for filling this gap include bringing more dental care into schools, augmenting the general dentistry residency programs at the Marshfied Clinic and the Marquette University School of Dentistry, and figuring out why Medicaid utilization is low in counties that rely on managed care organizations, according to the authors.
The Marshfield Clinic isn't yet ready to host a dental school because it isn't an educational institution and doesn't have enough experience with dentistry, the authors stated.
EFDAs may already be legal in Wisconsin, but the state regulations are unclear. "Over the next 10 years, it is likely that DHATs will become legal in many states, including Wisconsin," the authors predicted.
In the meantime, it also called for greater use of dental hygienists.
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