Dental clinics turn away Medicaid patients

Parents of Head Start students are now scrambling to find dental clinics for their children after several private clinics recently stopped accepting Medicaid clients due to the nonpayment of reimbursements.

At Seventh-Day Adventist Clinic, employee Imee Fernandez confirmed yesterday that services for Medicaid clients are temporarily on hold since March 13 this year after the clinic failed to collect unpaid obligations from Medicaid. She said the suspension is in effect until further notice.

Also suspending similar services is Dental Care Clinic, which took effect since two months ago. Like Seventh-Day Adventist, Dental Care is unsure as to when it will re-implement the program and that it will depend on the payment made by the government, which handles the Medicaid program.

A check with Toothworks also confirmed that the clinic had stopped serving Medicaid clients until all obligations are settled.

Clinic employees interviewed by Saipan Tribune all disclosed that the delinquency in Medicaid payments covers several months since late last year. They declined to disclose the amount owed by the government.

The Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. recently shut down the dental office at the Commonwealth Health Center to streamline operations. This move resulted in the transfer of dental services to private clinics. Unfortunately, most of these private clinics have stopped accepting Medicaid clients.

Two other private dental clinics were also checked yesterday. One declined to comment on the issue while the other stated that it has never served Medicaid clients at all.

A single mother from San Vicente shared that she has been scouting since April 9 for a dental clinic that can accommodate her 4-year-old child. Frustrated that none of the four private clinics want to accept Medicaid dental clients, the 35-year-old mother ended up paying $30 for the dental checkup of her child.

If further test determines the child needs more dental services, this means additional money from her own pocket. Dental and physical examinations are among the major requirements of the Head Start program.

Saipan Tribune tried yesterday to obtain comments from both Medicaid administrator Helen Sablan and the governor’s adviser for the program, Esther Muña, on what is causing the delay in the payment to providers. There was no statement received from either two as of press time.

The Medicaid program is administered by the state and is funded by both federal and state revenues through matching funds. Among the services covered is dental treatment of eligible children.

At the Public School System Head Start program, all enrollees are required to undergo a dental checkup as a requirement.

In an interview at the recent PSS leadership summit for parents, Education Commissioner Rita A. Sablan disclosed that this concern has been raised by PSS to the Legislature. She said that PSS will appeal to the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. to reopen the dental clinic.

“I think we need to go back to meet with the CEO to discuss the tremendous impact of the closure of the dental clinic at CHC. There are 462 kids from Head Start who are availing of that service and we also inform about the dental/health program at PSS. So I think there’s room to go back and discuss it with the CEO and see what they can do to help our children and their families,” said Sablan.

She also encouraged parents to possibly include dental services in their health insurance.