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The Medicaid Access Gap for Children in North Carolina

It’s no secret that there is an oral health care access gap for North Carolinians with Medicaid insurance. It’s practically a rule of thumb that if you are born poor, you will have less access to health care services (medical and dental), and in turn will likely end up with greater incidence of dental disease.

There are many reasons why this is true. From the food on your table (click here to learn more about how where you live can impact access to healthy food) to the transportation you can access, the distance between your home and the nearest oral health care facility, and more, social determinants of health can significantly impact access to care.

In fact, an estimated 80 percent of a person’s health is the result of factors outside of a medical office.

That isn’t to say that the oral health care system itself is an insignificant factor. For a variety of reasons, there simply are not enough providers who accept Medicaid insurance, which creates large areas where adults and children alike cannot access the care they need and deserve.

North Carolina Medicaid Oral Health “Secret Shopper” Survey

The NCOHC team recently conducted an internal secret shopper survey in Western North Carolina, a region with significant oral health care access issues for Medicaid-insured individuals. Over the course of several weeks, NCOHC staff contacted oral health care providers listed on the website Insure Kids Now to inquire about an appointment for a seven-year-old child with Medicaid insurance.

Of 119 WNC locations, 50 were listed as accepting children with Medicaid insurance. Fifty-seven were listed as not accepting Medicaid, and 12 did not indicate whether or not they accept Medicaid. Upon calling each location, NCOHC found that only 35 locations were currently accepting Medicaid-insured children. A total of 70 did not accept Medicaid, and NCOHC staff were unable to reach the remaining 14 locations. Three counties were found to not have a single Medicaid-accepting oral health care provider.

Note: The NCOHC survey was conducted to serve as a preliminary look at the oral health care landscape in Western North Carolina, an area with significant access concerns. And while it was not conducted as a comprehensive research project, NCOHC’s findings do reflect some of the access gaps identified in the recent American Dental Association Health Policy Institute’s report on Medicaid access in North Carolina. Particularly, maps in the report of meaningful pediatric Medicaid dental office locations starkly visualize the relative scarcity of providers in the western part of the state compared to North Carolina’s urban centers.

Increasing Medicaid Acceptance by Oral Health Providers in North Carolina: What Can We Do?

It’s important to ask why these access gaps occur. Even when there are dental providers in an area, why do so many not accept Medicaid insurance?

Addressing Payment Disparities

Medicaid reimbursement rates for oral health care tend to be lower than the rates private insurers pay, often falling below the actual cost of performing some procedures. For many private practices, this can pose a significant financial issue.

Possible paths forward include increasing reimbursement rates to a level where Medicaid is on par with private insurers and simplifying the filing and appeals processes.

Strengthening the Oral Health Care Safety-Net

Another option is to patch up the holes in our “safety-net” facilities. Across North Carolina, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), local health departments, and other safety-net facilities care for large numbers of our state’s residents who have Medicaid insurance or are uninsured or underinsured.

FQHCs, for example, receive federal funding that helps reduce the financial gap between Medicaid reimbursement rates and private insurance rates (as well as the gap between patients with insurance and those who can’t pay at all). Despite this support, many FQHCs still struggle to cover their costs. Additional funding will be needed to ensure the sustainability of these organizations’ efforts.

Similarly, local health departments and other safety-net facilities often receive funding from the government, charitable organizations, and private donors that help them see any patient, regardless of their ability to pay.

Systems-Level Reform to Address Medicaid Oral Health Care Access in North Carolina

To solve the Medicaid access gap issue, we must ask the right questions — and address the systemic challenges driving these disparities. For example:

  • What policies or other initiatives could strengthen the safety-net environment, allowing facilities like FQHCs to expand into regions that are underserved?
  • Can we achieve policy reform to increase reimbursement rates?
  • If so, how long will that take, and what can we do to help those in need in the meantime?

The solution to North Carolina’s Medicaid oral health care access issues will likely require organizing to build support for changes to the Medicaid system while also driving policy change to better support the safety net. No less important, however, and as NCOHC always emphasizes, we are far more likely to solve the problem through collaboration.

Doing nothing simply isn’t an option.

NCOHC, a program of the Foundation for Health Leadership & Innovation, works to advance systems-level changes, improving the overall health and well-being of all North Carolinians by increasing access and equity in care. To stay up-to-date and get involved, join us today as a North Carolinian for Change.

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Oral Health Day 2022: Equity in Action Recap

This year’s Oral Health Day was a tremendous success!

Oral Health Day 2022 centered the work necessary to create a truly equitable oral health system. Following the theme “Equity in Action,” speakers discussed disparities and the actionable steps we can all take to improve oral health for everyone, from pursuing racial equity to increasing access for individuals with disabilities, and more.

If you missed the event and want to enjoy the full experience, you can find the event recording here.

Dr. Eleanor Fleming’s Keynote Address

Dr. Eleanor Fleming kicked off the first day with rousing remarks on race and racism in oral health, highlighting systemic factors that impact our teeth and the need for antiracist collaboration to overcome barriers to care. Dr. Fleming currently serves as assistant dean of equity, diversity, and inclusion at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry and is a nationwide leader in this work.

 

Fleming discussed the social determinants of health and the many ways that the world around us can impact our health. Most of her remarks, however, centered around antiracism, tying the need for antiracist effort to the ultimate goal of equity in oral health care.

Fleming identified ways that racism goes beyond hurting individual people or groups to “actually sap the strength of the whole society.” She said that we all have skin in the game when it comes to actively challenging racism at the personal, structural, and systemic levels.

 

Panel Discussion

After Fleming’s keynote address, Dr. Lewis Lampiris, associate adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina Adams School of Dentistry, moderated a lively panel discussion that included representatives from community, insurance, philanthropy, academia, and more.

Marie Helms, a mother of two, kicked off the panel talking about her experience finding oral health care for her daughter, who was diagnosed with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy at 6 months old.

 

Panelist Rachel Radford followed with examples of hardships her family has experienced finding oral health care for her two children, both of whom have autism.

 

Radford also talked about her own experience with oral health care. She didn’t see a dentist until she was 22 years old and was made fun of by her first provider for being nervous. She talked about the way this made her feel and how dental anxiety stemming from that incident made it difficult to continue seeking oral health care.

Continuing the conversation, Dr. Amadeo Valdez gave perspectives on equity issues from his roles as an oral health care provider and dental residency program director. Valdez works for the Mountain Area Health Education Center, the AHEC program serving Western North Carolina.

 

Lampiris asked Curt Ladig, president and CEO of Delta Dental of North Carolina, how private insurers can contribute to equity in oral health care. Ladig explained that his core beliefs center around access for everyone, something he brings to his work as he guides the direction of the insurance company.

 

Yazmin García Rico, director of Hispanic/Latinx policy and strategy at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, joined the panel discussion to speak from her perspective within government. She talked about the need for a more robust workforce spanning the entire state.

 

García Rico also talked about diversity among providers as an important priority and mentioned language access as a major need in oral health spaces.

Finally, Dr. Susan Mims spoke from her perspective both as a pediatrician and as the current president and CEO of the Dogwood Health Trust. Dogwood Health Trust funds programs to improve the health and wellbeing of Western North Carolinians, including the Patient Advocate Pilot, an NCOHC-led initiative advancing care coordination and case management for vulnerable populations.

Mims spoke about the opportunities that philanthropic organizations have to advance equity in oral health, especially when it comes to pushing boundaries and trying new things. She also told personal stories from her time as a health care provider, witnessing the toll that poverty takes on people’s health.

 

Many panelists examined a specific and pressing policy need in North Carolina: Medicaid Expansion.

Radford’s final remarks during the discussion took a personal note. She enrolled in Medicaid coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, but she and many others stand to lose that coverage unless Medicaid Expansion is passed.

 

Day Two: Equity in Action

This year’s Oral Health Day was the first to span two days. On the second day, participants from across the United States reconvened to participate in a collaborative workshop, identifying policy solutions to the inequities discussed the day before.

Prior to the workshop portion, NCOHC Director Dr. Zachary Brian kicked off the day with a data-based overview of disparities faced in North Carolina. With that background in mind, attendees split into four groups to discuss current realities and actionable solutions.

The NCOHC team was blown away by the level of engagement during the solutions workshop, and we are hard at work developing a comprehensive “Equity Action Framework” to share publicly. The framework will outline achievable, collaborative solutions to the problems facing communities across North Carolina, and will guide NCOHC’s work heading into 2023.

If you would like a copy of the report, make sure to sign up to receive NCOHC emails here.

You can find the full event recording below:

 

NCOHC, a program of the Foundation for Health Leadership & Innovation, works to advance systems-level changes, improving the overall health and well-being of all North Carolinians by increasing access and equity in care. To stay up-to-date and get involved, join us today as a North Carolinian for Change.