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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Fewer Utah dentists are willing to see new Medicaid patients, despite four consecutive annual increases in Medicaid reimbursement rates.
State lawmakers raised reimbursement by 4.3 percent in 2005; 4.8 percent in 2006; and 2 percent in 2007. For 2008, reimbursements went up 30 percent for dentists treating pregnant women and children and 6 percent for treating other adults.
But a work force analysis report from the Utah Medical Education Council shows that in 2006 nearly two-thirds of the state's 1,075 dentists were not accepting new Medicaid patients. Dentists cited reimbursement rates and missed appointments as factors in their decision.
And it's not just new patients who can't find care. Data from the Utah Division of Health Care Financing also shows that overall the number of dentists who see Medicaid patients is dropping. In the current fiscal year about 50 fewer dentists submitted a single Medicaid claim form than were submitted two years ago.
"Dentists and physicians are dropping off at just an alarming rate," said Sen. Allen Christensen, R-Ogden, a dentist who estimates at least half of his patients are on Medicaid.
"The dentists do not need the patients. They're busy enough with their regular-paying clients," he said. "But the patients need the dentists. It's an ongoing battle."
Part of the problem is that the costs of dentistry outpace reimbursements, even with increases, said Monte Thompson, executive director of the Utah Dental Association.
"We know there is a very real need ... but it's a real rub if (dentists) even look at it as a way to break even," Thompson said. Another issue: Dental care is an optional part of Medicaid services, so funding has been unstable, making dentists wary, said Don Hawley, a retired manager of the health department's Bureau of Coverage and Reimbursement Policy.
"If it's an optional program, then the dentists never have any security," said Hawley, who now works as a part-time consultant. "In the last five or eight years, they (haven't known whether) it's on or off."
And the problem could get worse as the number of Medicaid patients grows and dentists retire. Currently 5.6 percent of Utah dentists -- or 83 providers -- devote a substantial portion of their practice to Medicaid patients.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
