In a report released this week from the Pew Center on the States, Pennsylvania was among nine states given a failing score for their provision of children’s dental care. Pennsylvania only met national averages in two of eight separate categories for policy improvement, including
1. Share of high-risk schools with sealant programs
2. Hygienists placing sealants with dentist’s prior exam
3. Share of residents on fluoridated water supplies
4. Share of Medicaid-enrolled children getting dental care
5. Share of dentists’ median retail fees reimbursed by Medicaid
6. Paying medical providers for early preventive dental care
7. Authorizing new primary care dental providers
8. Tracking data on children’s dental health
Of these, the state only passed on #2 and #8. Other states to receive a failing grade were Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, New Jersey, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The problem largely stems from the scarcity of dental care providers available and willing to provide care to individuals covered by public medical assistance. According to the study, more than half of Pennsylvania children on Medicaid received no dental care in 2007.
As Dan Jurman of SouthEast Lancaster Health Services (SELHS) told NewsLanc in an earlier interview, the SELHS dental clinic stands as the only place in the Lancaster County where such services are provided for those under medical assistance. They are never under capacity.
The report also cited a variety of other reasons for Pennsylvania’s shortfall:
Although they make efficient use of hygienists, the state’s school-based sealant programs reach less than a quarter of high-risk schools, and just under a third of Medicaid-enrolled children in Pennsylvania received dental services in 2007, the latest year for which data are available. As a result, the state was one of 13 identified for investigation in 2008 by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which found that it needs to do more to ensure adequate access to dental providers. Pennsylvania recently created a Medicaid pay-for-performance program to award bonuses to dentists providing continuous care to children (and other vulnerable populations, such as pregnant women), but it does not reimburse primary care physicians for providing basic dental preventive services. The Keystone State provides fluoridated water to just over half of its population, well short of the national goal.
To read the report in its entirety, click here.
