There are significant disparities in oral health care between low-income and other Americans. In recent years, a number of states have examined their Medicaid dental programs and implemented reforms to improve oral health care for beneficiaries. In some cases, these reforms have included changes in the administration of the Medicaid dental program, with the goal of improving both access to and use of services.

To learn from these experiences, the California HealthCare Foundation asked Health Management Associates to examine how several states administer their dental programs and to share insights.

Several themes emerged, including:

• Active stakeholder involvement is important for program reform.
• Payment issues as well as administrative issues are critical for dental providers.
• Pent-up demand delays cost savings associated with program changes.
• The integration of services for physical health and oral health is still in its infancy.

The research pointed to a number of areas to consider in improving access to dental services for California's Medicaid beneficiaries.

The complete report is available under Document Downloads.