Since its inception in 2003, Oral Health Kansas” advocacy agenda has been a simple one: to make it easier for Kansans particularly low-income people to get dental care.
Simple, but not easily accomplished.
“It really is an issue of social justice,” said Teresa Schwab, director of the 130-member, non-profit group. “We have people who are suffering and the disease is 100 percent preventable.”
Oral diseases are preventable if people have access to preventive dental services. But for a variety of reasons many Kansans don”t. An uneven supply of dentists is among the main reasons. According to federal criteria, 87 of the state”s 105 counties are considered underserved. Limitations on who can qualify for dental services through
Medicaid, the state”s health insurance program for low-income residents, and dentist displeasure about what they perceive as low Medicaid reimbursement rates also contribute to the shortage of services.
To chip away at the problem, Oral Health Kansas, working with the Kansas Dental Association and other stakeholders, convinced legislators in 2003 to allow qualified dental hygienists to provide certain kinds of preventive care in schools, Head Start programs, safety-net clinics, local health departments and nursing homes. The law allowed hygienists to work independently but required them to have agreements with sponsoring dentists willing to monitor them.
The Kansas Dental Board reports that 49 hygienists have obtained the “extended care permits” needed to participate in the program. But Schwab said more permitting flexibility is needed to make it easier to recruit hygienists. And she said service locations need to be expanded to include more places where children and elders congregate. So, the same coalition that lobbied for the original bill wants legislators to approve a relatively short list of changes.
“We”re on board,” said Kevin Robertson, executive director of the dental association, confirming Schwab”s assertion that the proposal had broad stakeholder support.
Robertson and Schwab said the coalition also will urge lawmakers to relax the Medicaid eligibility requirements so that more low-income adults can qualify. It also will continue to lobby for an increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates.
Finally, Schwab said, the coalition will monitor the budget-writing process to ensure that lawmakers follow through on a commitment made last year to allocate approximately $1.2 million over three years to a new residency program. The program helps train new dentists to serve the diverse needs of low-income people at safety-net clinics.
Related coverage: Kansas’ Oral Health Care Provider Shortage
→ Bill considered that would allow dentists to have more practice locations (2/18/14)
→ Statehouse push made for mid-level dental practitioners (2/12/14)
→ Americans for Prosperity joins effort to license mid-level dental providers (1/8/14)
→ Kansas Medicaid program still lags nation in oral health care for kids (11/12/13)
→ Kansas dental program for children on hold because of KanCare MCO (11/11/13)
→ Dental mediation effort ends without compromise (11/4/13)
→ Disputing parties enter formal mediation over mid-level dental providers (10/3/13)
→ Pew report cites need for mid-level dental providers (6/25/13)
→ Dentist groups announce scholarships for dentists going to rural areas (2/7/13)
→ Advocates for mid-level dental providers meet with legislators (2/6/13)
→ Bill to license mid-level dental providers introduced (1/29/13)
→ Regents will hear proposal to train mid-level dental practitioners (10/17/12)
→ Dentist shortage proposal not funded in Regents’ recommended budget (9/20/12)
→ Report questions economic viability of mid-level dental providers (7/26/12)
→ Task force recommends building state’s first dental school (6/21/12)
→ Dentists shouldn’t fear mid-level dental care, expert says (4/20/12)
→ No consensus on how to end ‘dental deserts’ (4/9/12)
→ Worldwide review says mid-level dental providers give good care (4/10/12)
→ Bill to increase dental care access given initial approval in Senate (3/15/12)
→ New caucus told of oral health success in southeast Kansas (3/8/12)
→ More Kansans head to ER for dental care (2/29/12)
→ Dental association says new program will increase access in rural areas (2/2/12)
→ ‘Turf battle’ continues over dental practitioner bill (1/30/12)
→ Summit to focus on training plan for mid-level dental practitioners (11/29/11)
→ Between a hygienist and a dentist, a hard sell (10/26/11)
→ Political fight continues over mid-level dental practitioners (10/11/11)
→ Better prevention would help solve dentist shortage, advocate says (7/22/11)
→ Dentists: Practitioner bill flawed (3/9/11)
→ Videos detail shortage of Kansas dental providers (12/8/10)
→ Slow going in efforts to solve state’s dentist shortage (8/30/10)
→ Safety-net clinics filling gap in dental services to low-income Kansans (8/30/10)
→ Replacing town’s only dentist ‘hardest’ project ever (8/30/10)
→ Progress made on oral health, but problems remain (1/14/09)
→ Funding bill contains seed money for ‘dental hubs’ (5/4/07)
→ Increasing access aim of oral health coalition (12/21/06)
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