Association Between Insurance Type and Fluoride Varnish Application During Well-Child Visits in Massachusetts

Copyright © 2023 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved..

OBJECTIVE: To compare rates of fluoride varnish (FV) applications during well-child visits for children covered by Medicaid and private medical insurance in Massachusetts.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study analyzed well-child visits for children aged 1 to 5 years paid by Medicaid and private insurance during 2016.Çô18 in Massachusetts. Multivariate regression models, with all covariates interacting with insurance type, were used to calculate odds ratios and adjusted predicted probabilities of fluoride varnish during well-child visits by calendar year and age.

RESULTS: Across 957,551 well-child visits, 40.0% were paid by private insurers. Unadjusted rates of fluoride varnish were significantly lower among well-child visits paid by private insurers (6.6%) than visits paid by Medicaid (14.2%). In the fully interacted regression model, the odds of a visit including fluoride varnish were significantly lower for older children than for children aged 1 for visits paid by both insurance types. Adjusted rates of fluoride varnish increased significantly from 2016 to 2018 for both insurance types. Moreover, rates were higher among visits for children covered under Medicaid than privately insured children in all years, and the differences by insurance type declined over time (2016: 8.0% points, 95% confidence interval.á=.á.êÆ8.7 to .êÆ7.3, 2018: 5.3% points, 95% confidence interval.á=.á.êÆ6.6 to .êÆ3.9).

CONCLUSIONS: Rates of fluoride varnish applications during well-child visits were low for both Medicaid and private insurance despite growth from 2016 to 2018 in Massachusetts. Low rates are concerning because this is a recommended service with the potential to help address racial, geographic, and income-based disparities in access and oral health outcomes.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2023

Erschienen:

2023

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:23

Enthalten in:

Academic pediatrics - 23(2023), 6 vom: 01. Aug., Seite 1213-1219

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Chen, Annie Yu-An [VerfasserIn]
Geissler, Kimberley H [VerfasserIn]
Dick, Andrew W [VerfasserIn]
Goff, Sarah [VerfasserIn]
Kranz, Ashley M [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Access to care
Fluorides
Fluorides, Topical
Insurance
Journal Article
Medicaid
Oral health
Q80VPU408O
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 05.09.2023

Date Revised 03.10.2023

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1016/j.acap.2023.05.003

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM356721345