Michigan dentists' attitudes toward Medicaid and an alternative public dental insurance system for children.
OBJECTIVE
Healthy Kids Dental (HKD) was created as a pilot program of the Michigan State Medicaid program to increase access to care for Medicaid-eligible children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate dentist's attitudes toward Healthy Kids Dental and Medicaid in Michigan.


METHODS
An online survey was sent to practitioners with an e-mail address registered with the Michigan Dental Association (N=4,285).


RESULTS
Surveys were returned from 965 practitioners (~23 percent). Although practitioners were not fully satisfied with the HKD, their satisfaction with the program was significantly higher than their satisfaction with the traditional Medicaid program (P<.001). Sixty-four percent of providers that accept Medicaid limit the number of children seen in some manner, while 28 percent of providers that accept HKD limit the number of children seen. Families with traditional Medicaid who contact an office are significantly less likely to receive treatment for their child than families with HKD insurance who contact the same office (P<.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Practitioners were more satisfied with programmatic and patient-related factors of the Healthy Kids Dental program than they were with Medicaid. Dentists were more likely to treat children with HKD than children with Medicaid when the parent contacts a dentist in Michigan.
Graduate student, University of Michigan/Mott Children's Health Center/Hurley Medical Center pediatric dentistry residency program, the School of Dentistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., USA.
Cordell D
CD
Nebeker
Adjunct clinical associate professor, the School of Dentistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., USA.
Daniel M
DM
Briskie
Adjunct clinical assistant professor of dentistry, Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry, the School of Dentistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., USA.
Raymond A
RA
Maturo
Clinical assistant professor and director of outreach and community affairs, Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences and Endodontics, the School of Dentistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., USA.
Wilhelm A
WA
Piskorowski
Associate professor and director, Division of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Health Services Research, Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Mass., USA.
Woosung
W
Sohn
Clinical associate professor and director of pediatric dentistry, Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., USA. jboynton@umich.edu.
James R
JR
Boynton
D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019140:Dental Care for Children / Q000191:economics*; D003815:Dentists / Q000523:psychology*; D005250:Fees, Dental; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007347:Insurance, Dental; D008484:Medicaid; D008824:Michigan; D018579:Patient Selection; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D017150:Public Sector; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms; D014481:United States