Measuring the quality of dental care among privately insured children in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To examine whether quality of dental care varies by age and over time and whether community-level characteristics explain these patterns.

Data source

Deidentified medical and dental claims from a commercial insurer from January 2015 to December 2019.

Study design

A retrospective cohort study. The primary outcome was a composite quality score, derived from seven dental quality measures (DQMs), with higher values corresponding to better quality. Hierarchical regression models identified person- and zip code-level factors associated with the quality.

Data collection/extraction methods

Continuously enrolled US dental insurance beneficiaries younger than 21 years of age.

Principal findings

Quality was assessed for 4.88 million person-years covering

SUBMITTER: Choi SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8763286 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature