Practice Management Insider: Medicaid expansion led to drop in untreated teeth

Dear Practice Management Insider,

State dental Medicaid benefits appeared to improve access to treatment and oral health outcomes for low-income adults in a new study in JAMA Network Open.

In states that expanded Medicaid to include dental benefits, the percentage of low-income adults with untreated decay dropped by almost 17%. What's more, those same states observed an 11% increase in the percentage of adults who said they flossed on a daily basis. See more statistics in our Insider Exclusive.

In other news, the average Medicaid payout for adult services as a percentage of private insurance reimbursement increased by 4 percentage points from 2017 to 2020, according to new data presented by the ADA Health Policy Institute. The increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates means not only more money in dentists' pockets but also an increase in dentist participation, one presenter said.

Do you want to go from entrepreneur to CEO? Columnist Dr. Roger P. Levin outlined the steps to get you there in a two-part series. In the first part, Levin detailed the entrepreneur and rapid growth phases of the journey. In the second part, he explained why reaching the later phases, CEO and the strategist, can result in a fulfilling and rewarding career.

One of the biggest topics in the Practice Management Community continues to be the potential addition of dental benefits to Medicare. Notably, the ADA encouraged dentists to contact U.S. lawmakers and voice their opposition to adding a dental benefit to Medicare Part B. Some dentists have called the decision hypocritical, arguing that organized dentistry cannot insist that oral healthcare is an essential part of medicine while at the same time rebuking attempts to consolidate healthcare.

Finally, some states are beginning to enforce vaccine mandates, and not all dentists agree with the decision. Recently, the director of the State of Rhode Island Department of Health ordered a dentist to stop treating patients until he gets vaccinated against COVID-19. The dentist, Dr. Stephen Skoly Jr., has stated publicly that he would not comply with the state's vaccine mandate.