Medicaid ins and outs focus of ADA webinar

Scheduled for Aug. 28

The ADA Council on Advocacy for Access and Prevention is hosting a virtual town hall Aug. 28 to discuss the ins and outs of Medicaid and the benefits of becoming a Medicaid provider.

The 90-minute educational session will highlight Medicaid champions who are capitalizing on the reforms made in state programs that expand access to care and showing legislators the impact of those reforms. The webinar is slated to start at 7 p.m. CT. 

Goals of the program include initiating discussion and energizing members about the success of being a Medicaid provider; educating attendees on how the ADA is supporting increasing provider participation; and providing practical steps members can take to improve utilization and access to care.

Elizabeth Simpson, D.M.D., chair of the Council on Advocacy for Access and Prevention, encouraged anyone who is not currently a Medicaid provider to attend the webinar. Even for providers who do not want to accept any Medicaid patients, Dr. Simpson said, the discussion will still provide valuable insight. 

“We’re trying to go through and talk about some of the stigma behind Medicaid itself, Medicaid patients, and some things that we as a council at the ADA are trying to [do to] make it more user friendly,” Dr. Simpson said. “Just different steps that we’re taking so that we don’t have hundreds of thousands of patients who have Medicaid that’s just going unutilized because there aren’t enough providers to accept it.”

The webinar agenda will feature a brief introduction, a Medicaid overview, a discussion on Medicaid reform, what the ADA is doing, a panel of real stories and tips on how to be a Medicaid provider, and question and answer period. There will be a variety of speakers, from state executives to dentists who work at health centers to private practice dentists who are Medicaid providers.

“We have these specific champions because they have been able to make a living— I would dare say even a very good living — being Medicaid providers,” Dr. Simpson said. “I think another common perception is because the reimbursement rate is so low you have to see a whole lot of Medicaid patients to equal out a private practice patient, so we have these specific people who are able to say, ‘This is how I’ve been able to make it work, and I love what I do, and I love my patients, and you don’t have to break your neck to do this and make it work in your practice.’”

Dr. Simpson encouraged potential attendees to come with an open mind in order to hopefully leave with at least one idea of how to make this work in an office or practice setting. She emphasized that the overarching aim, though, is to begin shifting the types of conversations surrounding Medicaid patients in general. 

“One of the things that hurts me is the stigma of Medicaid patients and how we generalize them very, very poorly,” Dr. Simpson said. “[We as a council want to start] changing the stigma and just how we talk about patients who have this insurance.”

To learn more or register for the webinar, visit this webpage.