A community strategy for Medicaid child dental services.

Abstract

The authors present second-year utilization data and first- and second-year cost data for a community-based program in Spokane County, Washington, designed to increase access to dental care for Medicaid-enrolled children from birth to 60 months of age. The authors used Medicaid eligibility and claims data for 18,727 children 5 years of age and younger to determine utilization of dental care from January 15, 1996, through January 15, 1997. They also used accounting records from the agencies involved to calculate the first- and second-year costs of the program. A child in the ABCD program was 7.2 times as likely to have at least one dental visit as a Medicaid-enrolled child not in the program. Estimated costs per child with at least one dental visit (in 1995 dollars) were $54.30 for the first year and $44.38 for the second year, or $20.09 per enrolled child for the first year and $18.77 for the second year. Public-private joint efforts are effective in improving access to dental care for Medicaid-enrolled children.