Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Billed And Paid Amounts For Preventive Procedures In Dental Medicaid, K. Wagner, Aniko Szabo, Elaye Okunseri, Christopher Okunseri

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

Objective:

To examine trends and variations in billed and paid amounts for preventive dental procedures by race/ethnicity, age, and sex in Wisconsin dental Medicaid.

Methods:

We analyzed data from the 2001 to 2013 Wisconsin Medicaid claims database for preventive dental procedures for children and adults. Billed and paid amounts for preventive dental procedures were aggregated over a visit and adjusted for inflation based on the Medical Care Consumer Price Index produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2013. Quantile regression was used to examine the trends over time and the effect of patient demographics.

Result:

At the 50th and …

Opioid Analgesic Prescribing Practices Of Dental Professionals In The United States, C. N. Steinmetz, C. Zheng, Elaye Okunseri, Aniko Szabo, Christopher Okunseri

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

The prescription of opioid analgesics by dental professionals is widespread in the United States. Policy makers, government agencies, and professional organizations consider this phenomenon a growing public health concern. This study examined trends in the prescription of opioid analgesics for adults by dental professionals and associated factors in the United States. Data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (1996-2013) were analyzed. Descriptive statistics were calculated separately for each year. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to estimate the overall trend during the period with and without adjusting for dental procedures and personal characteristics. Survey weights were incorporated to handle the sampling …

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. …

Nontraumatic Dental Condition-Related Visits To Emergency Departments On Weekdays, Weekends And Night Hours: Findings From The National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, Christopher Okunseri, Elaye Okunseri, Melissa Christine Fischer, Saba Noori Sadeghi, Qun Xiang, Aniko Szabo

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

Objective: To determine whether the rates of nontraumatic dental condition (NTDC)-related emergency department (ED) visits are higher during the typical working hours of dental offices and lower during night hours, as well as the associated factors.

Methods: We analyzed data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey for 1997 through 2007 using multivariate binary and polytomous logistic regression adjusted for survey design to determine the effect of predictors on specified outcome variables.

Results: Overall, 4,726 observations representing 16.4 million NTDC-related ED visits were identified. Significant differences in rates of NTDC-related ED visits were observed with 40%–50% higher rates during …

Racial And Ethnic Variations In Waiting Times For Emergency Department Visits Related To Nontraumatic Dental Conditions In The United States, Christopher Okunseri, Elaye Okunseri, Cesar A. Chilmaza, Shazeen Harunani, Qun Xiang, Aniko Szabo

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

Background

Researchers have documented an association between waiting times in emergency departments (EDs) and quality of care for medical conditions, but little is known about trends and factors associated with waiting times for ED visits related to nontraumatic dental conditions (NTDCs). The authors examined trends in waiting time and associated factors for NTDC-related ED visits in the United States.

Methods

The authors analyzed data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care survey for 1997 to 2007, excluding 2001 and 2002 owing to lack of information about waiting times. The authors used a survey-weighted linear regression of log-transformed waiting-time model to …