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Impact Of Wisconsin Medicaid Policy Change On Dental Sealant Utilization, Christopher Okunseri, Elaye Okunseri, Raul I. Garcia, Cesar Gonzales, Alexis Vistocky, Aniko Szabo

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

Background

In September 2006, Wisconsin Medicaid changed its policy to allow nondentists to become certified Medicaid providers and to bill for sealants in public health settings.

Objective

This study examined changes in patterns of dental sealant utilization in first molars of Wisconsin Medicaid enrollees associated with a policy change.

Data Source

The Electronic Data Systems of Medicaid Evaluation and Decision Support for Wisconsin from 2001 to 2009.

Study Design

Retrospective claims data analysis of Wisconsin Dental Medicaid for children aged 6-16 years.

Principal Findings

A total of 479,847 children followed up for 1,441,300 person-years with 64,546 visits were analyzed. The …

Differences In Utilization Of Dental Procedures By Children Enrolled In Wisconsin Medicaid And Delta Dental Insurance Plans, Pradeep Bhagavatula, Qun Xiang, Aniko Szabo, Fredrick Eichmiller, Christopher Okunseri

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

Background

Few studies have directly compared dental procedures provided in public and private insurance plans for enrollees living in dental health professional shortage areas (DHPSAs). We examined the rates for the different types of dental procedures received by 0–18-year-old children living in DHPSAs and non-DHPSAs who were enrolled in Medicaid and those enrolled under Delta Dental of Wisconsin (DDW) for years 2002 to 2008.

Methods

Medicaid and DDW dental claims data for 2002 to 2008 was analyzed. Enrollees were divided into DDW-DHPSA and non-DHPSA and Medicaid-DHPSA and non-DHPSA groups. Descriptive and multivariable analyses using over-dispersed Poisson regression were performed to …

Patterns Of Dental Service Utilization Following Nontraumatic Dental Condition Visits To The Emergency Department In Wisconsin Medicaid, Nicholas M. Pajewski, Christopher Okunseri

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

Objectives: To examine patterns of dental service utilization for adult Medicaid enrollees in Wisconsin following nontraumatic dental condition (NTDC) visits to the emergency department (ED).

Methods: This is a retrospective, observational study of claims for NTDC visits to the ED and dental service encounters from the Wisconsin Medicaid Evaluation and Decision Support database (2001-2009). We used competing risk models to predict probabilities of returning to the ED versus obtaining follow-up care from a dentist.

Results: We observed a 43 percent increase in the rate of NTDC visits to the ED, with most of this increase occurring from 2001 to 2005. …

Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Nontraumatic Dental-Condition Visits To Emergency Departments And Physician Offices In The Wisconsin Medicaid Program, Christopher Okunseri, Nicholas M. Pajewski, David C. Brousseau, Sandy Tomany-Korman, Andrew Snyder, Glenn Flores

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

Background

Nontraumatic dental condition (NTDC) visits occur in emergency departments (EDs) and physician offices (POs), but little is known about factors associated with NTDC visit rates to EDs and POs.

Methods

The authors analyzed all Medicaid dental claims in Wisconsin from 2001 through 2003 to examine factors associated with NTDC visits to EDs and POs. They performed bivariate and multivariable analyses. The independent variables they examined included race/ethnicity, age, sex, dental health professional shortage area (DHPSA) designation and urban influence code for county of residence.

Results

The authors evaluated 956,774 NTDC visits made during 1,718,006 person-years; 4.3 percent of visits …