California continues to struggle to expand access to its low-income dental program, Denti-Cal. To this end, the California Department of Health Care Services has only managed to bring in 73 new dentists in 2017. During the economic recession a range of cuts were made to Denti-Cal to the point where it only covered services for children with full benefits only restored to adults last year. The restoration of services was also accompanied by mandates to the local health plans that they provide transportation and interpretation services for dental appointments. However, the program has begun to struggle with its financial and logistical burdens. Alongside this, despite half of doctors treating patients in Medi-Cal, the figure is only 15 percent for Denti-Cal. At the same time, the pool of dentists participating in Denti-Cal shrunk 50 percent between 2013 and 2017 while enrollments rose 40 percent. At present, Medi-Cal and Denti-Cal now cover nearly a third of Californians. This drop can be attributed to unhappiness among dentists at the payments they receive, often less than half of the payments from private insurance. There are also complaints over the amount of paperwork they are required to do, and that 40 percent of patients do not turn up for appointments. Furthermore, patient advocates are concerned about the geographic distribution of providers, with rural areas chronically underserved by dentists. To tackle these issues, red tape has been cut around enrollment and a dentist can now join the program in three weeks. More funding has been provided as well, with the California Department of Health Care Services injecting $140 million in funding which has been used to boost rates for providers. For fiscal 2018-19, that supplemental funding was increased to $210 million, a 8 percent bump, with more payments earmarked to encourage preventative care. Alongside Medicaid contributions, the finance is now a total of $600 million in total supplemental funding. All these moves have even gained encouragement from the California Dental Association which has consistently criticized Denti-Cal rates. The new payments will be brought in at the beginning of 2019, with the hopes of 100 dentists willing to enter the program. However, concerns still exist over the patient no-shows, which often results from issues tied to the lower income status of patients. Transportation benefits have been targeted and assistance can range from free bus passes to reimbursement for ridesharing services such as Uber or Lyft, depending on the local health plan. Major moves are also being made to serve patients who do not speak English.
California continues to struggle to expand access to its low-income dental program, Denti-Cal. To this end, the California Department of Health Care Services has only managed to bring in 73 new dentists in 2017. During the economic recession a range of cuts were made to Denti-Cal to the point where it only covered services for children with full benefits only restored to adults last year. The restoration of services was also accompanied by mandates to the local health plans that they provide transportation and interpretation services for dental appointments. However, the program has begun to struggle with its financial and logistical burdens. Alongside this, despite half of doctors treating patients in Medi-Cal, the figure is only 15 percent for Denti-Cal. At the same time, the pool of dentists participating in Denti-Cal shrunk 8 percent between 2013 and 2017 while enrollments rose 40 percent. At present, Medi-Cal and Denti-Cal now cover nearly a third of Californians. This drop can be attributed to unhappiness among dentists at the payments they receive, often less than half of the payments from private insurance. There are also complaints over the amount of paperwork they are required to do, and that 40 percent of patients do not turn up for appointments. Furthermore, patient advocates are concerned about the geographic distribution of providers, with rural areas chronically underserved by dentists. To tackle these issues, red tape has been cut around enrollment and a dentist can now join the program in three weeks. More funding has been provided as well, with the California Department of Health Care Services injecting $140 million in funding which has been used to boost rates for providers. For fiscal 2018-19, that supplemental funding was increased to $210 million, a 50 percent bump, with more payments earmarked to encourage preventative care. Alongside Medicaid contributions, the finance is now a total of $600 million in total supplemental funding. All these moves have even gained encouragement from the California Dental Association which has consistently criticized Denti-Cal rates. The new payments will be brought in at the beginning of 2019, with the hopes of 100 dentists willing to enter the program. However, concerns still exist over the patient no-shows, which often results from issues tied to the lower income status of patients. Transportation benefits have been targeted and assistance can range from free bus passes to reimbursement for ridesharing services such as Uber or Lyft, depending on the local health plan. Major moves are also being made to serve patients who do not speak English.