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Dental clinic will aid low-income residents

By BILL BERRY
of The Gazette
When you have a bad toothache, you go to a dentist and get it fixed, right?

Not if you're a low-income person relying on Medicaid or BadgerCare to meet your medical needs.

A lot of dentists don't want to mess with Medicaid, mostly because reimbursements are low and paperwork loads high.

So low-income people go searching for a dentist. Sometimes they find one, sometimes they don't. So it goes in the world of low-income people.

That may soon change in central Wisconsin.

CAP Services, the Stevens Point based community action agency, has been tracking this gap in medical care for years and casting about for a solution. One has emerged in the form of a partnership among several key players that will create a new dental clinic in Stevens Point.

The partners include CAP, Delta Dental and St. Michael's Hospital. The federal government is a partner, too. U.S. Rep. David Obey, D-Wausau, secured a $450,000 grant to boost the effort. The partners unveiled the new venture recently at CAP's W. River Drive program offices.

Each of the local partners has committed to providing $50,000. The clinic will be housed in a vacant medical office owned by St. Michael's in the Medical Arts Plaza on Highway 66. A dentist has been secured, and Delta Dental is gathering discounted equipment for the facility. A Sept. 1 startup date is targeted. Services would be provided to anyone who qualifies for Medicaid or BadgerCare. Patients will make any payments required by the BadgerCare/Medicaid programs such as a co-payment or payment for services not covered by BadgerCare/Medicaid. Some BadgerCare families pay a small premium for the BadgerCare coverage.
Medicaid is a federal-state program that helps pay for health care for needy people. BadgerCare is a state program that provides coverage to low-income people who don't qualify for Medicaid. Much of its funding comes from federal sources.

In all, up to 10,000 Portage County residents alone could be eligible at the new clinic. It will also serve eligible people from other counties.

CAP and other community action agencies conduct periodic Community Needs Assessments in their service areas, explained CAP Senior Planner Patsy Mbughuni. The assessments ask low-income people, other service providers and CAP staff to prioritize their top poverty concerns. Inadequate medical care was by far the top concern for low-income people in CAP's 1998 assessment, Mbughuni said. Dental needs were especially unmet.

CAP has been busing people to a Wautoma dental clinic that provides care on a sliding payment scale. "But that's not going to work in the long run. We decided we had to find a local solution," she said.

That's when the local partners got serious about a clinic.

St. Michael's will handle Medicaid and BadgerCare paperwork, which is a major contribution, according CAP President Karl Pnazek. St. Michael's will also operate the program, including employing project staff.

Dental Dental President Dennis Brown joked that when Pnazek called him, "I knew it was about money." But he added that Delta Dental, a nonprofit service company, jumped at the idea because it fit the company's mission. The company is already involved in similar clinics in Wautoma and Madison, he said.

"There's a real strong relationship between dental health and overall health," Brown added, citing a growing body of research.

"We see the needs first-hand in our emergency room," said Cherrie Pavelec-Marti, St. Michael's community mission coordinator. "We can treat the pain, but it's a very expensive way to do it."

Brown agreed, adding: "For every dollar spent on preventative dental, you save $4 down the road."

Local dentists have been supportive of the effort, Marti said.

Adequate health care for all Americans remains one of the country's major unmet social needs, Obey said. Noting that he had helped with startup funds for similar clinics in several other communities, he added: "In the end, it's all still piecemeal."

More than 100 million Americans don't have dental insurance, Obey said. He added that there is a growing shortage of dental services.

Then there's the fact that many dentists don't take low-income patients. "A woman in Antigo talked to 31 dentists. She ended up going to Appleton," Obey said.

The group also heard from a low-income Portage County resident who told them she couldn't get dental care locally but was helped by CAP's shuttle service to Wautoma. "I don't know where I would have been. It's serious for some people," she said.



	Dental clinic will aid low-income residents By BILL BERRY of The Gazette When you have a bad toothache, you go to a dentist and get it fixed, right? Not if you're a low-income person relying on Medicaid or BadgerCare to meet your medical needs. A lot of dentists don't want to mess with Medicaid, mostly because reimbursements are low and paperwork loads high. So low-income people go searching for a dentist. Sometimes they find one, sometimes they don't. So it goes in the world of low-income people. That may soon change in central Wisconsin. CAP Services, the Stevens Point based community action agency, has been tracking this gap in medical care for years and casting about for a solution. One has emerged in the form of a partnership among several key players that will create a new dental clinic in Stevens Point. The partners include CAP, Delta Dental and St. Michael's Hospital. The federal government is a partner, too. U.S. Rep. David Obey, D-Wausau, secured a $450,000 grant to boost the effort. The partners unveiled the new venture recently at CAP's W. River Drive program offices. Each of the local partners has committed to providing $50,000. The clinic will be housed in a vacant medical office owned by St. Michael's in the Medical Arts Plaza on Highway 66. A dentist has been secured, and Delta Dental is gathering discounted equipment for the facility. A Sept. 1 startup date is targeted. Services would be provided to anyone who qualifies for Medicaid or BadgerCare. Patients will make any payments required by the BadgerCare/Medicaid programs such as a co-payment or payment for services not covered by BadgerCare/Medicaid. Some BadgerCare families pay a small premium for the BadgerCare coverage. Medicaid is a federal-state program that helps pay for health care for needy people. BadgerCare is a state program that provides coverage to low-income people who don't qualify for Medicaid. Much of its funding comes from federal sources. In all, up to 10,000 Portage County residents alone could be eligible at the new clinic. It will also serve eligible people from other counties. CAP and other community action agencies conduct periodic Community Needs Assessments in their service areas, explained CAP Senior Planner Patsy Mbughuni. The assessments ask low-income people, other service providers and CAP staff to prioritize their top poverty concerns. Inadequate medical care was by far the top concern for low-income people in CAP's 1998 assessment, Mbughuni said. Dental needs were especially unmet. CAP has been busing people to a Wautoma dental clinic that provides care on a sliding payment scale. "But that's not going to work in the long run. We decided we had to find a local solution," she said. That's when the local partners got serious about a clinic. St. Michael's will handle Medicaid and BadgerCare paperwork, which is a major contribution, according CAP President Karl Pnazek. St. Michael's will also operate the program, including employing project staff. Dental Dental President Dennis Brown joked that when Pnazek called him, "I knew it was about money." But he added that Delta Dental, a nonprofit service company, jumped at the idea because it fit the company's mission. The company is already involved in similar clinics in Wautoma and Madison, he said. "There's a real strong relationship between dental health and overall health," Brown added, citing a growing body of research. "We see the needs first-hand in our emergency room," said Cherrie Pavelec-Marti, St. Michael's community mission coordinator. "We can treat the pain, but it's a very expensive way to do it." Brown agreed, adding: "For every dollar spent on preventative dental, you save $4 down the road." Local dentists have been supportive of the effort, Marti said. Adequate health care for all Americans remains one of the country's major unmet social needs, Obey said. Noting that he had helped with startup funds for similar clinics in several other communities, he added: "In the end, it's all still piecemeal." More than 100 million Americans don't have dental insurance, Obey said. He added that there is a growing shortage of dental services. Then there's the fact that many dentists don't take low-income patients. "A woman in Antigo talked to 31 dentists. She ended up going to Appleton," Obey said. The group also heard from a low-income Portage County resident who told them she couldn't get dental care locally but was helped by CAP's shuttle service to Wautoma. "I don't know where I would have been. It's serious for some people," she said.