FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

WEST ALLIS, WIS., March 26, 2010 – The Wisconsin Dental Association, which represents 83 percent of licensed dentists in the state, agrees with the findings of the Department of Health Services' recently-released Oral Health Education Study and its recommendation to pilot a program in which a dental benefits administrator would be hired to focus on delivering oral health care to Medicaid recipients.

A similar program in Michigan called Healthy Kids Dental has proven successful in giving economic purchasing power to patients which in turn has improved access to oral health care.

The report was presented in Madison on March 22 to the department’s Dental Education Feasibility Study Advisory Committee (DAC) by Howard Bailit, DMD, PhD of the University of Connecticut. The two and one-half month, $200,000 study was authorized in fall 2009 by the state Legislature to “…assess the impact of educational and non-educational strategies on dental access disparities for rural and urban underserved Wisconsin populations.”

This is the state’s third attempt since 1999 to identify ways of improving dental access for individuals enrolled in its MA and BadgerCare insurance programs other than providing market-rate reimbursement to those delivering the care.

WDA review of the most-recent study shows the five options for reducing dental care access disparities would all require a meaningful financial investment from the state. According to the report, the state will have to invest new funds into the MA program if it wants to provide more dental care to a greater number of enrollees. What model and/or programs the state intends to pursue is yet to be decided.

The state government reports about 1 million low-income children and adults, or 20 percent of Wisconsin residents, are beneficiaries of medical assistance programs at some point during a given year. State fee-for-service data for fiscal year 2006 (most recent available) shows that while these patients received $74 million in dental care, the state and federal governments combined paid just $32 million or 44 percent of those charges. Dentists donated the remaining $42 million in care to MA patients.

“Giving state-insured patients the economic power to purchase dental services would make it possible for them to access care at many of the 3,000 small dental practices already open for business across Wisconsin,” says WDA President Dr. Kent Vandehaar of Chippewa Falls, Wis.

Wisconsin dentists also serve their communities and make a difference for underserved children and adults through charity care in their private practices and by volunteering with charitable dental clinics, the WDA Mission of Mercy, Give Kids A Smile® and other outreach programs.

“However,” notes Vandehaar, “charity is not a dependable oral health care delivery system.”

Recently, the state of Wisconsin earned a grade of “C” for its dental health policies for children from the  PEW Center on the States by meeting just four out of eight policy benchmarks set forth in “The Cost of Delay: State Dental Policies Fail One in Five Children.” (This grade was not given to dentists.)

Giving low-income patients greater access to comprehensive and ongoing care in a dental home setting through increased funding is one of six WDA legislative proposals for improving the oral health of children and adults statewide while helping save future treatment costs. WDA healthy choices for dental access include:

1. Loan forgiveness and grants to encourage new dentists to settle in underserved areas
2. Dental prevention education for MA patients
3. Create a new trained dental professional position -- expanded function dental assistant to help dental offices currently treating low-income and MA patients increase the number of patients they can efficiently see
4. Allow dental hygienists to provide preventive services in a wider array of public health settings while maintaining connection with state public health bureau or a private-practicing dentist
5. Remove the HMO program from dental MA in southeastern Wisconsin, replacing with fee-for-service system that saves money and delivers more care as noted in 2008 Legislative Audit Bureau report
6. Raise dental MA reimbursement to market-rates

The WDA is also working with several federally qualified health centers in exploring opportunities for contracting with private-practice dentists to treat MA patients. This could help more patients get needed dental care in a timely fashion and save travel costs.

A January 2010 dental work force report by University of Connecticut researchers indicates Wisconsin will have enough dentists through 2020. In addition, dentists in this state are very efficient and productive, utilizing dental team members more effectively than their counterparts nationally. However, there persists a gap in the percentage of low-income children and adults who access dental care compared to those with higher incomes or private sector coverage.

“The WDA wants to work with state legislators, low-income patients and their advocates to improve access to oral health care from oral hygiene education to treatment of dental disease,” Vandehaar says.

The Wisconsin Dental Association was established in 1870. With more than 2,900 members statewide, the WDA represents 83 percent of all licensed, practicing dentists in Wisconsin. Members are committed to promoting professional excellence and quality oral health care. The WDA is headquartered in West Allis with a legislative office in Madison. It is one of 53 state-territorial dental societies of the American Dental Association - the largest and oldest national dental association in the world. For more information, call 414-276-4520, visit our WDA.org Web site and find us on Facebook.