Area dentists show interest in helping underserved in county

Addressing the dental needs of those underserved in the county blossomed two ideas during the Jasper County Board of Health meeting March 11. Dr. Jeff Millet joined the conversation to bring the perspective of dentists and share his knowledge on the subject.

“The dentists locally wanted to make sure we are involved in some of the discussions and planning to help,” Millet said. “It’s not that we don’t want to help, it is just there are so many challenges, with reimbursement rates being one of them, and administrative burden being a second factor, that we at least have the knowledge out there that we are trying to help, we are open to some different ideas but it is a difficult process for any one of us to take on all of it at once.”

After speaking with board medical advisor Dr. Andrew Cope earlier, Cope shared two ideas he and Millet discussed to help those underserved. The first would be to establish a community health center that would be federally funded, thus lending it to different reimbursement rates. An example of the community health center can be found as close as Marshalltown.

“The community health center, as far as the dental side goes, they are federally subsidized and federally supported funding wise, to my knowledge. Their reimbursement is not based per procedure, like it is for our office or any other dental office, they are paid on a per visit, as far as I know,” Millet said. “The federal centers can also qualify for some student loan reimbursement, so that is one attraction for students coming out of the University of Iowa, that they can have a little student loan support while working at the health centers.”

While the community health center could potentially be a long-term goal for the county, another idea of having community outreach events throughout the year would address current needs.

“As far as a community outreach program, as I spoke with a few other dentists in the community, we are all open to hearing some thoughts and ideas and potentially putting a program or something together for that,” Millet said.

Board chair Margot Voshell liked both of the ideas and directed the health department to explore the options moving forward. She did also clarify that currently no dentist in the county is taking any new Medicaid patients.

“That is true on the brand new patients, as far as what is on the listings,” Millet said. “There are multiple dentist providing services for Medicaid patients currently but it is true, to my knowledge, as well, no dentists are accepting new at this time.”

He explained the challenges dentist face with the system of Medicaid and recent changes to the contract. Unfortunately for the practices, he said, a lot of administrative burdens and challenges have been pushed on to the dentist throughout the years. Also, this isn’t just an issue in Jasper County but state wide and nationally.

“You have a business to run and we understand there are barriers to serving that population but it does sound like there could some opportunities to all work together for some outreach clinics on a to-be-determined basis,” Voshell said.

Millet also inquired if there are any funds set aside by the county for dental health. The board and health department were going to look into the matter and report back at a later date.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com