Barriers to Medicaid participation among Florida dentists

Finding dentists who treat Medicaid-enrolled children is a struggle for many parents. The purpose of this study was to identify non-reimbursement factors that influence the decision by dentists about whether or not to participate in the Medicaid program in Florida.

Data from a mailed survey was analyzed using a logistic regression model to test the association of Medicaid participation with the Perceived Barriers and Social Responsibility variables.

General and pediatric dentists (n=882) who identified themselves as either Medicaid (14%) or Non-Medicaid (86%) participants responded. Five items emerged as significant predictors of Medicaid participation, with a final concordance index of 0.905. Two previously unreported barriers to participation in Medicaid emerged: 1) dentists' perception of social stigma from other dentists for participating in Medicaid, and 2) the lack of specialists to whom Medicaid patients can be referred.

This study provides new information about non-reimbursement barriers to Medicaid participation.