What if... every dentist

TOPIC HANDLE COMMENTS

What if... every dentist: mouthjanitor: would open their doors to medicaid one to two days a month, or travel into the wilderness "here and there?"

What if... every dentist: barstoolpigeons: Then every dentist could have 1-2 days per month of 50% no shows (at least) and getting paid at 50% or less of their fee.

What if... every dentist: charlton: Location: Mclean, VA: I have volunteered to see 2 patients a month through the Medical Care for Children Partership here in Northern Virginia. These patients are vetted through the various social services programs. Great way to give back to the community.

What if... every dentist: mouthjanitor: Not fair to blanket everyone like that and - look at the bigger picture - the state of our profession?

What if... every dentist: twmdds: Location: Bellevue, WA: In reality there's not much of an "access to care" problem. More a "disinterest in dentistry until it hurts" problem.

What if... every dentist: jbdent I'm not sure where you are going with this but I'll bite. I AM trying to look at the bigger picture and can't decide what blows worse, the state of our profession or medicaid. I've spent 50+ days in Honduras. Medicaid? I'll pass.

What if... every dentist: mouthjanitor: What if every one did it, negating "the access to care problem?" There would be nothing for them to talk about, then.

What if... every dentist: Timmy G: Location: Raytown, MO First off--a good portion of the people requiring Medicaid assistance are NOT in areas of great dentist concentration. Take KC where I'm at. The vast majority of dentists are bunched 8-10-15 miles from the areas of the bulk people on Medicaid. How do you propose these people make their way from where they live--inner city, for example, to the suburbs where the concentration of dentists are? Or how about a rural area where distances to town of much size are spread apart. Logistics. It's not enough to have the dentists available--the patients have to be able to get there and get that at a time when the dentist can see them. So now in addition to seeing a few Medicaid patients we should maybe be open on some weekends or evenings to accommodate as well?

What if... every dentist: nickc: Location: TX Since the access to care "problem" is basically a marketing ploy, I'm sure "they" will still find a way to spin it.

What if... every dentist: ToothDesign: Sounds like you got it all figured out. You go ahead and do this. Let us know how it works out.

What if... every dentist: TomWhitdmd:Location: Al i can help you on the "rural area where distances to town of much size are spread apart" question. the answer is the same way they get their groceries and everything else they need from town. in rural areas 15 mile = 15 minutes for the most part so when someone says there is not a dentist for 15-20 miles, its not that bad and its part of living in the country. im pretty rural and our schedule is never so full that if someone NEEDS to be seen that they cant ( and there are 2 other offices that i know are the same schedule wise). its not an access to care issue its a care to access issue ( and a money issue obviously). hoping someone calls right now that needs endo or ext so i can get to work.

What if... every dentist: psdmd I used to work at the Health Clinic and see medicaid patients. Dentistry I disliked on ungrateful patients, with few exceptions.

I decided a long time ago that I'll do my charitable dentistry OUTSIDE the United States. I go to Honduras too. Love working on those patients. The kids sit still, don't cry and are thankful to have someone care about them. My husband does pro bono dentistry at the local free clinic once a month. Not my cup of tea.

What if... every dentist: SkiDoc Wade: Why can't they come to us. a few hour drive ain't a big deal. They chose to live away from society. Not me. Food is more important then Teeth but you don't see suggestions that Grocery stores should deliver to hill billies. There is no access to care issue. Just access to $ to pay for it for some. I also refuse to see medicaid patients. I prefer to see them for free then to deal with the gov't mobsters.

What if... every dentist: jmslps: Location: keller, TX: I did it for almost 20 years. I did volunteer work on kids multiple days per year in the county dental office. It was really rewarding at first. The kids and parents were appreciative, and really fun to work with. That was 30 years ago. They got snottier and less thankful and eventually rude. The cars in the parking lot and the cell phones the mom had were better than mine. Of the hundreds of DDS in the county, there were only a few of us that did it. I finally quit. The no show rate was over 50%. Even the paid staff would not show up. I quit going overseas because the governments made it too hard. Even the people became rude and entitled. They did not care because another health care group would be along next week anyway.Call me burned out on trying to help.

What if... every dentist: The Mommy Dentist Member Since:09/30/03 Location: SD: Mouthjanitor-can I ask how long you've been practicing? I ask because I used to think the same thing, 10 years ago. I think most of us went into dentistry to help people but you can only be burned so many times before getting pissed. My final straw was a Medicaid patient who no showed 3 kids then showed up and told me how great their trip to Disney world was. New car, acrylic nails, cell phone, kids were getting laptops for Christmas. I'm sitting on $300k student loans, 3 kids, mortgage and 400k office debt. I had never been to WDW and wasn't sure how I was even going to take my kids to the Black Hills for a vacation. We all get burned out at some point.

What if... every dentist: fliegenfischen: what if every dentist dropped DELTA DENTAL, CIGNA etc? man we'd really have a change.

What if... every dentist: Timmy G: Location: Raytown, MO Seriously? While I agree that it is far more access to money, to suggest there aren't logistic issues of transportation and schedule--especially in some metropolitan areas- is uneducated. You can do better then that.

What if... every dentist: v0g3L: How about the government lets us tax deduct all the work we do for free to people who need it .... That would open up the doors real quick.

What if... every dentist: Timmy G: Location: Raytown, MO :Now there you onto something that has a chance of actually being beneficial. I could see it being ripe for being abused but if we assumed for a second that not every other dentist would abuse this (and that's a large assumption), you have a good idea.

What if... every dentist: v0g3L: Like all welfare programs .... abuse would be inevitable. Then all dentists would be accused of "Trumping" the system :-\

What if... every dentist: shesky Member Since: 10/07/01 Location: grand rapids, MI: What if the government paid 70% of our normal fees? What if the government paid what ever they wanted but allowed us to bill in addition, what we needed to work on them. Wouldn't cost the government a dime. I personally would still give them a discount to normal fee's. Yes I know some couldn't afford that but many could. And I like everyone having a little skin in the game.

What if... every dentist: deanmersky Member Since: 03/03/04 Location: Doylestown, PA: What if...50,000 dentists agreed (signed on) to treat "those in need" with the condition that the Pew Charitable Trust, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Santa Fe Group, Oral Health America, multiple others, the ADA, Henry Schein, Dentsply, Ivoclar, 3M, the CDA and others, Delta Dental, and the others, plus the ADEA, direct their current funding to support those 50,000 dentists in providing the care they worry about...Would they still promote MLPs? Would they still need to spend money on Public Relations and lobbying? Wouldn't those extraneous expenses be better spent on those they are so concerned about? What if we changed the narrative? What if...

What if... every dentist: SkiDoc Wade: Uber. Bike. Car. People find rides to what they truly want. Very few exceptions truly can't find a ride to the dentist due to disability or something else. If they can't get money for a ride they can't afford the dentistry. Hence this is a $ issue not an access issue. See. I can do better.

What if... every dentist: mouthjanitor:Can we look beyond the individual and see where all the money is going? You people are stuck on "medicaid people." It's much, much bigger than this.

What if... every dentist: scandalouslj: Doesnt one of the states- Minnesota? Require every dentist to see a certain number of medicaid patients or something like that? That hasnt seemed to help as they are also the ones with the Midlevel providers now? I used to take Medicaid and still see about 50 patients that are deserving, appreciative, etc...But we had to cut out taking new patients, because 50% did not show up, the fees were too low to even break even without compromising care, and a lot of them were rude, unappreciative, and you couldn't have them in the same room with PPO patients. We have a community clinic- I as well as a lot of other dentists volunteer at- I do 2 days a month. Malpractice is taken care of by the state, and if the patients don't show, no sweat off our back- and most do and are very appreciative as they know they get kicked out if they don't show. They pay something small- like $5 every visit; the facilities are brand new. We need more places like that.

What if... every dentist: nickc: Location:TX : I participate with medicaid, and the fact of the matter is that patient population is much less reliable about showing up for their appointments.

What if... every dentist: marksmall:Member Since: 07/15/03 Location: Cranston, RI: I think that most dentists do give back in some way. It may be a mission trip, a Mission of Mercy, Donated Dental Services, or a down and out person or family in your own practice. What about the cash contributions that we give to various charitable groups? In the past the powers that be (Pew, Kellogg, department of health, medicaid, etc.) have asked dentists to just take one person or kid that has medical assistance and treat them. Charity is not a health care system and it would not make a dent in the so called "Access to Care" problem. There needs to be a change in attitude. People choose not to spend money on their mouths. A $600 cell phone and a monthly cell phone plan is more likely to be paid for than an exam, x-rays, cleaning, or filling. The Medicaid program in RI has not increased its fees since 1992! A choice on behalf of the legislature. Pew and Kellogg choose to spend their money lobbying state legislatures to create new dental providers, but not to provide funding for the ones already trained and working. Never mind funding for these new positions that they want created. It has been discussed in the past to make treating medical assistance patients a requirement for maintaining your licence. I am certain that if you are forced to treat this group of patients that the government will not pay anywhere near your full fee. They will expect you to provide the best service with perfect documentation. Anything less and fines, fees, and prosecution will be your fate.

What if... every dentist: v0g3L: I've solved it .....Government opens public health clinics and dentists "volunteer" their time at these clinics and get a standard deduction per day they work at the clinics. If it is based off per day instead of procedures there wouldn't be a way for dentists to take advantage of the system.

What if... every dentist: mouthjanitor: I'm just saying, if nothing is done, the MLPs are coming to an FQHC or physicians office near you. It is happening.

What if... every dentist: