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Medicaid reimbursement rates to jump for dentists Friday, Sep 15, 2006 By Betsy Turner Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas' Medicaid reimbursement rates to dentists will greatly increase under a plan approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Gov. Mike Huckabee announced Thursday. Huckabee said CMS approved a 48 percent hike in the reimbursement rates. The Arkansas Medicaid program provides medical coverage to low-income families. The governor praised the reimbursement increase, which the state requested in the spring of 2005, as a way to increase the number of dentists providing services and the number of Medicaid patients receiving services. "Good dental health is essential to good overall health," he said in a release. "This decision will give more Arkansans access to dental care and is something we've worked to accomplish for some time." Julie Munsell, spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Human Services, said 375 dentists currently participate in the Medicaid program. Munsell said there has been a shortage of dental health providers for the 400,000 children on Medicaid in Arkansas. The last reimbursement increase occurred more than a decade ago, according to Munsell said, which she said contributed to the decline in participation. "Not only have we seen fewer dental health providers, but the ones that remained see fewer Medicaid clients," Munsell said. She said the Arkansas Dental Association has assured officials it would go out and "aggressively recruit" more participants because of the rate increase. She said the plan provides a rate equal to 95 percent of the Delta Dental Premier Fee Schedule. For example, the rate for a basic cleaning will go from $31.35 to $45.60. A dental exam will bring a reimbursement of $26.60 to the dentists compared with $22.80 previously. Payments on the new rates will be retroactive to April 1. Munsell stressed that the rate change would be automatically updated and dentists would not need to resubmit claims. Munsell said the plan also provides more dental services in the Medicaid program, such as an additional cleaning each year. |
