Findings from RAND Corporation Has Provided New Data on Health and Medicine (Pediatric Oral Health Services In Medicaid Managed Care and Fee for Service): Health and Medicine

2023 APR 24 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on Health and Medicine. According to news reporting originating in Boston, Massachusetts, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “In 2008, Florida’s Medicaid program began reimbursing medical providers for preventive oral health services (POHS) delivered to children aged 6 months to 42 months. We examine whether Medicaid comprehensive managed care (CMC) and fee for service (FFS) had different rates of POHS during pediatric medical visits.”

Financial support for this research came from NIH National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research (NIDCR).

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from RAND Corporation, “Observational study using claims data (2009-2012). Using repeated cross-sections of 2009-2012 Florida Medicaid data for children 3.5 years or younger, we examined pediatric medical visits. We estimated a weighted logistic regression model to compare POHS rates among visits reimbursed by CMC and FFS Medicaid. The model controlled for FFS (vs CMC), years Florida had a policy allowing POHS in medical settings, an interaction between these 2 variables, and additional child-and county-level characteristics. Results are presented as regression -adjusted predictions.Among 1,765,365 weighted well-child medical visits in Florida, POHS were included in 8.33% of CMC-reimbursed visits and 9.67% of FFS-reimbursed visits. Compared with FFS, CMC-reimbursed visits had a nonsignificant 1.29-percentage-point lower adjusted probability of including POHS (P = .25). When examining differences over time, although the POHS rate was 2.72 percentage points lower for CMC-reimbursed visits after 3 years of policy enactment (P = .03), rates were similar overall and increased over time.POHS rates among pediatric medical visits in Florida were similar for visits paid via FFS and CMC, with low rates that increased modestly over time.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Our findings are important because more children continue to be enrolled in Medicaid CMC.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Pediatric Oral Health Services In Medicaid Managed Care and Fee for Service. The American Journal of Managed Care, 2023;29(2). The American Journal of Managed Care can be contacted at: Managed Care & Healthcare Communications Llc, 666 Plainsboro Rd, Ste 300, Plainsboro, NJ 08536, USA.

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Annie Yu-An Chen, RAND Corporation, Boston, MA, United States. Additional authors for this research include Andrew W. Dick, Isaac M. Opper, Bradley D. Stein and Ashley M. Kranz.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.37765/ajmc.2023.89319. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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