title: Self-reported oral health of enrollees in capitated and fee-for-service dental benefit plans.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This article examines the impact of different dental plan types, dental markets, premiums, out-of-pocket costs and enrollee demographics on the enrollees' perceived oral health status.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors randomly sampled enrollees in dental benefit plans offered by eight Fortune 500 companies and interviewed them regarding their experiences with their plans, including perceived oral health status. The sample consisted of 2,340 respondents, of whom 42.3 percent were enrolled in capitation, or CAP, plans, and 57.7 percent were enrolled in fee-for-service, or FFS, plans.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The authors used chi2 tests, analysis of variance and multinomial logistic regression. They set significance at P < .05. Results indicate that nonwhites, CAP-plan enrollees and those with higher out-of-pocket cost were less likely to rate their oral health "good," "very good" or "excellent" compared with whites, FFS-plan enrollees and those with lower out-of-pocket costs, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CAP-plan enrollees rated their oral health more poorly than did FFS-plan enrollees. Further studies are necessary to determine if adverse selection occurs and if CAP plans provide inferior quality of care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Practitioners' awareness of and willingness to address the variety of factors that influence perceived oral health status may improve their patients' perceived oral health status and satisfaction with care.
authors.affiliation: RAND, Santa Monica, Calif., USA. coulter@rand.org
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Coulter
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Marvin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marcus
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Freed
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Der-Martirosian
authors.forename: Norma
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Guzman-Becerra
authors.forename: L Jackson
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guay
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002140:California; D002204:Capitation Fee / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005006:Ethnicity; D018588:Fee-for-Service Plans / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007347:Insurance, Dental / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008824:Michigan; D009515:New Jersey; D009657:North Carolina; D009909:Oral Health; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012647:Self-Assessment