Delivery of Preventive Oral Health Services by Rurality: A Cross-Sectional Analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Integrating oral health care into primary care has been promoted as a strategy to increase delivery of preventive oral health services (POHS) to young children, particularly in rural areas where few dentists practice. Using a multistate sample of Medicaid claims, we examined a child's odds of receiving POHS in a medical office by county rurality.

Methods

We used 2012-2014 Medicaid Analytic extract claims data for 6,275,456 children younger than 6 years in 39 states that allowed Medicaid payment for POHS in medical offices. We used county-level characteristics from the Area Health Resources Files, including a 3-level measure of county rurality. We used logistic regression to estimate a child's odds of receiving POHS in a medical office by county rurality, while contro

SUBMITTER: Geiger CK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6298795 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature